Brubru (Nilaus afer) [XC728961]
by Dries Van de Loock from Road past Amboseli sopa lodge, Amboseli Np, Kenya (call)
Brubru (Nilaus afer) [XC280496]
by Peter Boesman from Mkhuze Game Reserve, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
An enigmatic, monotypic genus which has been placed variously in families Laniidae, Prionopidae and Muscicapidae. Subspecies massaicus intergrades with nominate in north-eastern Uganda (Karamoja); nigritemporalis intergrades with affinis and brubru in south-eastern DRCongo (Katanga), and with solivagus in Zambia (middle Zambezi valley).
Proposed subspecies hilgerti (described from R Kassam, in eastern Ethiopia) synonymized with minor.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
afer (Latham, 1801) - Southern Mauritania and Senegal east to Eritrea and north-western Ethiopia, south to north-western and central Cameroon, western and north-western Central African Republic and north-western Uganda; dry-season visitor in coastal Liberia and Ghana.
camerunensis Neumann, 1907 - Cameroon highlands, southern Central African Republic, and northern and north-eastern DRCongo (east to northern end of L Albert).
minor Sharpe, 1895 - South-eastern Sudan, south-eastern Ethiopia, Somalia (except north-east), plateau country in northern and eastern Kenya (south to Kerio valley, Baringo, Isiolo, Tsavo and Taru), and north-eastern Tanzania.
massaicus Neumann, 1907 - North-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, Kenya (except northern and east) and northern Tanzania (Serengeti south to Shinyanga).
affinis Barboza du Bocage, 1878 - Northern Angola and southern DRCongo (Kasai, and Katanga east to Mt Kabobo).
nigritemporalis Reichenow, 1892 - Eastern Angola, southern and south-eastern DRCongo and Tanzania (except far north-western and north-east) south to Zambia (except extreme south-west), Zimbabwe (in middle Zambezi valley), Malawi and Mozambique (except extreme south).
brubru (Latham, 1801) - South-western and western Angola, extreme south-western Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, western Zimbabwe, northern South Africa (western Limpopo south to extreme northern Northern Cape and western Free State) and western Swaziland.
solivagus Clancey, 1958 - Central plateau of Zimbabwe, south-western Mozambique (western Sul do Save), northern South Africa (northern and eastern Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal) and eastern Swaziland.
miombensis Clancey, 1971 - Extreme south-eastern Zimbabwe (around Marhumbini), south-eastern Mozambique lowlands and north-eastern South Africa (coastal KwaZulu-Natal).