Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) [XC509758]
by Frank Lambert from Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa (song)
Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) [XC876197]
by Marc Anderson from Makhado Local Municipality (near Louis Trichardt), Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa (song)
Subspecies
Has been treated as conspecific with Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus), Turati's Boubou (Laniarius turatii), Zanzibar Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus) and Swamp Boubou (Laniarius bicolor). Genetically closest to Zanzibar Boubou (Laniarius sublacteus) and perhaps forming a superspecies with it, but somewhat less closely allied with Swamp Boubou (Laniarius bicolor) and a little farther removed from Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) and Turati's Boubou (Laniarius turatii). Where present species and Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) meet, in R Limpopo valley (in northern South Africa and Mozambique), their subspecies are very similar and may hybridize and intergrade; but along R Runde, in Zimbabwe, subspecies savensis of present species overlaps with the larger subspecies limpopoensis of Ethiopian Boubou (Laniarius aethiopicus) without interbreeding.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
savensis da Rosa Pinto, 1963 - South-eastern Zimbabwe (lower R Runde) and southern Mozambique (R Save valley).
transvaalensis Roberts, 1922 - South-eastern Botswana (Gaborone and Lobatse areas) and lowlands of northern South Africa (northern North West Province and Limpopo Province, excluding Limpopo Valley, south to eastern Mpumalanga and northern KwaZulu-Natal) and eastern Swaziland.
tongensis Roberts, 1931 - South-eastern and extreme southern Mozambique (eastern Sul do Save and Lebombo Range), and eastern South Africa (coastal KwaZulu-Natal, including L St Lucia).
natalensis Roberts, 1922 - Eastern and southern South Africa (western and southern KwaZulu-Natal south to extreme south-western eastern Cape at Plettenburg Bay).
pondoensis Roberts, 1922 - Coastal forests of eastern Transkei (Pondoland), in north-eastern eastern Cape.
ferrugineus (Gmelin, 1788) - Southern western Cape (east to Plettenberg Bay).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet