Monteiro's bushshrike

Monteiro's bushshrike
Illustration by Joseph Smit
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Malaconotidae
Genus:	Malaconotus
Species:	M. monteiri
Binomial name
Malaconotus monteiri (Sharpe, 1870)
Subspecies
M. m. monteiri (Sharpe, 1870) M. m. perspicillatus (Reichenow, 1894)
Synonyms
Laniarius monteiri Sharpe, 1870

Monteiro's Bushshrike in Angola

Monteiro's bushshrike (Malaconotus monteiri) is a species of bird in the bush-shrike family (Malaconotidae).

Taxonomy

Two described subspecies: nominate Malaconotus m. monteiri (Shape, 1870) described from Angola, and M. m. perspicillatus (Reichenow, 1894) known from only a single specimen in Cameroon.[2] Subspecies perspicillatus differs from the nominate in having a larger bill and paler undersides.[2]

Presumed to be closely related to other Malaconotus, and has been considered conspecific with both gray-headed bushshrike M. blanchoti and fiery-breasted bushshrike M. cruentus in the past.[2] Cameroonian M. m. perspicillatus has also been theorized to be a color morph of the green-breasted bushshrike.[2] The specific phylogenetic relationships of M. monteiri are, as of yet, unknown.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Angola and Cameroon, with a historical record from the Albertine Rift of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and a lost specimen from Kakamega Forest, Kenya.[2]

This species' habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. In Angola, the nominate subspecies is found primarily along the Angolan Escarpment, with a distribution mirroring that of other Angolan endemic taxa.[3]

This species is largely unknown outside of Angola. Cameroonian birds are described as the subspecies Malaconotus monteiri perspicillatus based on a single specimen from Mt. Cameroon in 1894.[2] The subspecies of records in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya has not been confirmed, though the Congolese record has tentatively assigned to perspicillatus in the past.[2] There are scattered sightings of reported individuals in other mountain ranges in western Cameroon (namely, Mt. Kupé and the nearby Bakossi Mountains), though these records are usually considered unconfirmed.[2]

It is probably threatened by habitat loss like other birds in its range, but its actual status remains unknown due to its elusiveness.

References

1. BirdLife International (2019). "Malaconotus monteiri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T22707741A155179846. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22707741A155179846.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Fry, Hilary; Sharpe, Chris (4 March 2020). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D. A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Monteiro's Bushshrike (Malaconotus monteiri), version 1.0". Birds of the World. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.monbus1.01. S2CID 216500748.
3. Ryan, Peter; Sinclair, Ian (2010). Birds of Africa, south of the Sahara (2nd ed.). Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Struik Nature. ISBN 978-1770076235.