Black-throated Barbet (Tricholaema melanocephala) [XC826094]
by id from Kilalinda, Tsavo, Makueni County, Kenya (call)
Black-throated Barbet (Tricholaema melanocephala) [XC773922]
by Bram Piot from Tortilis Camp, Amboseli, Kajiado County, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
Closely related to Spot-flanked Barbet (Tricholaema lacrymosa), but not so close as to form a superspecies. Subspecies moderately distinctive; flavibuccalis, known from few north-central Tanzanian specimens, sometimes considered a separate species, or a megasubspecies, though it could actually be no more than a morph.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
melanocephala (Cretzschmar, 1826) - Northern and central Ethiopia, Djibouti and north-western Somalia.
stigmatothorax Cabanis, 1878 - South-eastern Sudan, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia, south to central Tanzania.
blandi Lort Phillips, 1897 - Central-northern and north-eastern Somalia.
flavibuccalis Reichenow, 1893 - North-central Tanzania (Seronera region and Wembere steppes).