Red-fronted prinia

The red-fronted prinia (Prinia rufifrons), also known as the red-fronted warbler and the red-faced apalis, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitat is dry savanna.

Red-fronted prinia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cisticolidae
Genus: Prinia
Species:
P. rufifrons
Binomial name
Prinia rufifrons
(Rüppell, 1840)
Synonyms
  • Apalis rufifrons
  • Spiloptila rufifrons
  • Urorhipis rufifrons

Taxonomy

The red-fronted prinia was described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1840 under the binomial name Prinia rufifrons. The type locality is Eritrea (the coastal region of Abyssinia).[2][3] The specific epithet rufifrons comes from the Latin rufus for "red" and frons for "forehead" or "front".[4]

There are three subspecies:[5]

  • P. r. rufifrons (Rüppell, 1840) – Chad to northwest Somalia
  • P. r. smithi (Sharpe, 1895) – southeast Sudan to central Somalia and north Tanzania
  • P. r. rufidorsalis (Sharpe, 1897) – southeast Kenya

Many taxonomists place this species in the genus Prinia rather than in its own monotypic genus Urorhipis.[6][7] Support for this alternative placement is provided by a molecular phylogentic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 that found that the red-fronted warbler was closely related to the prinias.[8]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Prinia rufifrons". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  2. Rüppell, Eduard (1840). Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig (in German). Frankfurt am Main: S. Schmerber. p. 110, Plate 41 fig. 1.
  3. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 171.
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Grassbirds, Donacobius, Malagasy warblers, cisticolas & allies". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  6. Ryan, P.; Dean, R. (2017). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Red-fronted Prinia (Prinia rufifrons)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  7. Lepage, Denis. "Red-fronted Warbler". Avibase. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  8. Olsson, U.; Irestedt, M.; Sangster, G.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Alström, P. (2013). "Systematic revision of the avian family Cisticolidae based on a multi-locus phylogeny of all genera". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 66 (3): 790–9. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.11.004. PMID 23159891.
  • Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona ISBN 978-84-96553-06-4


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