Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava) [XC719444]
by Lars Lachmann from Mole National Park, Ghana (call)
Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava) [XC419936]
by Peter Boesman from KIA Lodge, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata), Ashy Prinia (Prinia socialis) and River Prinia (Prinia fluviatilis). Sometimes treated as conspecific with Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata), but differs vocally and, to some extent, in plumage coloration. However, the situation is complicated by geographical variation. Further study is required. Subspecies vary clinally.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
subflava (Gmelin, 1789) - Southern Sahel from southern Mauritania and Senegal east to central Ethiopia and northern Uganda.
pallescens Madarász, 1914 - Northern Sahel from Mali east to Sudan, western Ethiopia and north-western Eritrea.
melanorhyncha (Jardine & Fraser, 1852) - Savannas from Sierra Leone east to south-western Nigeria, and Cameroon east to southern Uganda and western Kenya.
tenella (Cabanis, 1868) - Coastal plain of southern Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.
graueri Hartert, 1920 - Rwanda, and eastern and southern DRCongo south to Angolan highlands.
kasokae White, CMN, 1946 - Eastern Angola and western Zambia.
affinis (Smith, A, 1843) - South-eastern DRCongo, south-western Tanzania, central Zambia, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, western Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa (south to Lebombo Mts, in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal).
bechuanae Macdonald, 1941 - South-western Angola, northern Namibia, western Botswana and extreme south-western Zambia and north-western Zimbabwe.
mutatrix Meise, 1936 - Southern Tanzania, Malawi, eastern Zambia, northern and central Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe.
pondoensis Roberts, 1922 - Southern Mozambique, eastern Swaziland and eastern coastal plain of South Africa.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet