Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Kalahari Basin and adjoining hardveld regions: southern Angola, south-western Zambia and western and southern Zimbabwe south to Namibia (except west and south: Namib and Karoo), Botswana (except parts of northern and central) and northern and central South Africa (northern and central Limpopo Province south to northern Northern Cape and north-western Free State).
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus) [XC346843]
by Peter Boesman from Okavango river area, Rundu, Namibia (song)
Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus) [XC452803]
by Rick Nuttall from Sandveld Nature Reserve, Hoopstad district, Free State, South Africa (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Crimson-breasted Gonolek (Laniarius atrococcineus) and Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as separate species contra Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include erythrogaster as a subspecies of Crimson-breasted Gonolek (Laniarius atrococcineus).
Multiple genetic studies indicate that this species represents a single, deep branch in phylogenetic tree of present genus, only very distantly related to the other scarlet bush-shrikes. Until recently was regarded as forming a superspecies with Yellow-crowned Gonolek (Laniarius barbarus), Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster) and Papyrus Gonolek (Laniarius mufumbiri), and as being closest to and sometimes conspecific with Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster) (calls apparently identical, and responds to voice playback of latter).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet