Coastal lowlands of extreme southern Somalia (Boni Forest), Kenya (inland along river valleys to Garissa, southern Tsavo East National Park, southern Tsavo West National Park and L Jipe) and northern Tanzania (L Jipe east to northern Pare Mts, and at coast from Tanga south to Zanzibar, inland to eastern Usambara Mts and Uluguru Mts).
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2011).
East Coast Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus) [XC398558]
by Frank Lambert from Shimba Hills National Park, Kwale County, Kenya (song)
East Coast Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus) [XC773769]
by isaac kilusu from Maweni House, Kilifi, Kilifi County, Kenya (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Laniarius liberatus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993; Dowsett and Forbes-Watson 1993) is now treated as a synonym of erlangeri of Tropical Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) following Nguembock et al. (2008) who also recommend splitting Laniarius aethiopicus into Tropical Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus), Manda Boubou (Laniarius nigerrimus), Zanzibar Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus) and Tropical Boubou (Laniarius major), proposals that are currently under review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group.
Formerly, was widely treated as a subspecies of Tropical Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus). However, recent molecular-genetic studies indicate closer relationship with Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus), to the extent that the two can be regarded as a forming superspecies.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet