Yellow-lored Bristlebill (Bleda notatus) [XC824113]
by Deville Tanguy from Lompole, Bandundu, Mai-Ndombe, Congo (Democratic Republic) (call)
Yellow-lored Bristlebill (Bleda notatus) [XC498556]
by Andres Angulo Rubiano from Mbam et Djerem National Park, WCS research station for Chimpanzee studies, main camp, Cameroon (call)
Subspecies
Bleda eximia (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Green-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda eximius) and Yellow-lored Bristlebill (Bleda notatus) following Chappuis and Erard (1993). Gender agreement of species names follows David and Gosselin (2002b).
Until recently treated as a subspecies of Green-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda eximius), but acoustic and morphological data indicate that it is a separate species. Taxonomic confusion resulted in uncertainty over which of the two was involved in published observations in some of the earlier literature. As a consequence of these findings, considered to form a superspecies with Grey-headed Bristlebill (Bleda canicapillus). Molecular evidence from more recent work supports these treatments. It further suggests that subspecies ugandae may also merit species rank, a view reinforced by some morphological and (less convincingly) acoustic data. Species name sometimes given as notata, but genus is masculine.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
notatus (Cassin, 1857) - Extreme south-eastern Nigeria and Bioko I east to south-western Central African Republic, south to lower R Congo.
ugandae van Someren, 1915 - South-eastern Central African Republic, DRCongo (except lower reaches of R Congo), extreme south-western Sudan and Uganda. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Yellow-eyed Bristlebill (Bleda ugandae).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet