Northern Black Korhaan (Afrotis afraoides) [XC843707]
by id from Welgevonden, DWD gravel road, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa (call)
Northern Black Korhaan (Afrotis afraoides) [XC456358]
by Tony Archer from Vlakfontein gravel road, near Jagersfontein rd, Jagersfontein, Free State, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Black Bustard (Afrotis afra) and White-quilled Bustard (Afrotis afraoides) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as separate species contra Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include afraoides as a subspecies of Black Bustard (Afrotis afra).
Forms parapatric species pair with Black Bustard (Afrotis afra), with which often considered conspecific. Proposed subspecies mababiensis (north-western Botswana) and kalaharica (Kalahari Desert) nowadays included in etoschae and damarensis respectively.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
etoschae (Grote, 1922) - North-western Namibia and northern Botswana.
damarensis Roberts, 1926 - Namibia and central Botswana.
afraoides (Smith, 1831) - South-eastern Botswana through northern and north-eastern South Africa (northern Cape Province, western Transvaal, Orange Free State) to Lesotho.