Swamp Boubou (Laniarius bicolor) [XC444317]
by Arnon Dattner from Sandibe, Okavango Delta, Botswana (song)
Swamp Boubou (Laniarius bicolor) [XC568410]
by id from Santa Ambuleia, Angola (song)
Subspecies
Recent molecular-genetic analyses indicate that this species is closest to Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) and Zanzibar Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus), the three composing a sister lineage to Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) and Turati's Boubou (Laniarius turatii). Has in the past been treated as a subspecies of Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus), and sometimes considered to form a superspecies with Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) and Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) but overlaps in range with Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) around Chobe-Zambezi confuence, where the two occupy different habitats, and differs from Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) in morphology (larger size but lighter weight, less robust bill) and in voice and habitat. Subspecies intergrade.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
bicolor (Verreaux, 1857) - Western Cameroon south to Gabon and extreme north-western Angola (coastal Cabinda).
guttatus (Hartlaub, 1865) - PRCongo south to western Angola (south to near Lubango).
sticturus Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870 - Interior of southern Angola eastern western Zambia, north-eastern Namibia and northern Botswana.