Ethiopian Boubou
Laniarius aethiopicus
A chunky black-and-white bushshrike. There is a white patch at the shoulder and the underparts are white with a pinkish tinge. Inhabits woodland, lush savanna, cultivation, and scrub. Found in pairs. Typically skulky, but occasionally hops about in the open. Similar to Black-backed Puffback, but much larger. Song is a synchronized duet in which the male gives a hollow rising whistle and the female gives a low ratcheting sound.
Taxonomy
The Ethiopian boubou was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus aethiopicus. Gmelin based his description on "Le merle noire et blanc d'Abyssinie" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon. The Ethiopian boubou is now one of 22 species placed in the genus Laniarius that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>The Ethiopian boubou was formerly lumped with the tropical boubou, the black boubou, and the East Coast boubou. The species complex was split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008.<p>A quill mite, Neoaulonastus malaconotus, has been identified as an ectoparasite of the species. It belongs to the Syringophilinae, a mite subfamily known to infect several bushshrike species.
- Scientific name
- Laniarius aethiopicus
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Laniarius
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Bird Calls
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