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Bush-shrikes (Malaconotidae)

Black-backed Puffback (Dryoscopus cubla) - HBW 14, p. 95

French: Cubla boule-de-neige German: Schwarzmantel-Schneeballwürger Spanish: Cubla Dorsinegra
Other common names: Southern Puffback, The Puffback; Zanzibar Puffback (affinis)

Taxonomy: Lanius cubla Latham, 1801, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
Forms a superspecies with D. senegalensis. Only "pure" individuals of race affinis seem to occur on Zanzibar and adjacent mainland coast; from coastal S Somalia S to C Tanzanian coast (Dar es Salaam) many are pure affinis, but others, especially inland, have variable amounts of white in scapulars and wing, and exhibit extensive intergradation with nairobiensis and hamatus. Race okavangensis intergrades with hamatus. Proposed race chapini, described from Newington (E Mpumalanga), in NE South Africa, is subsumed in hamatus. Five sub.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Lanius cubla Latham, 1801, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
Forms a superspecies with D. senegalensis. Only "pure" individuals of race affinis seem to occur on Zanzibar and adjacent mainland coast; from coastal S Somalia S to C Tanzanian coast (Dar es Salaam) many are pure affinis, but others, especially inland, have variable amounts of white in scapulars and wing, and exhibit extensive intergradation with nairobiensis and hamatus. Race okavangensis intergrades with hamatus. Proposed race chapini, described from Newington (E Mpumalanga), in NE South Africa, is subsumed in hamatus. Five subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • hamatus Hartlaub, 1863 - N Angola, SE & E DRCongo, N & W Zambia, SW Kenya (W of Rift Valley, to Kavirondo Gulf), Tanzania (except NE), Malawi, Mozambique, E Zimbabwe, and lowland NE South Africa (Limpopo Province S to extreme N & NE Free State and N KwaZulu-Natal) and Swaziland.
  • nairobiensis Rand, 1958 - E of Rift Valley in Kenya (S from Archer's Post, E to Mt Endau, Kibwezi, and Tiva and Voi rivers) and NE Tanzania (S to Kilosa, E to Usambara Mts).
  • affinis ( G. R. Gray, 1837) - S Somalia and coastal lowlands of Kenya (extending inland to Bura and Shimba Hills) and Tanzania (S to R Rufiji), including Zanzibar I and Mafia I.

     See all 5 subspecies
  • hamatus Hartlaub, 1863 - N Angola, SE & E DRCongo, N & W Zambia, SW Kenya (W of Rift Valley, to Kavirondo Gulf), Tanzania (except NE), Malawi, Mozambique, E Zimbabwe, and lowland NE South Africa (Limpopo Province S to extreme N & NE Free State and N KwaZulu-Natal) and Swaziland.
  • nairobiensis Rand, 1958 - E of Rift Valley in Kenya (S from Archer's Post, E to Mt Endau, Kibwezi, and Tiva and Voi rivers) and NE Tanzania (S to Kilosa, E to Usambara Mts).
  • affinis ( G. R. Gray, 1837) - S Somalia and coastal lowlands of Kenya (extending inland to Bura and Shimba Hills) and Tanzania (S to R Rufiji), including Zanzibar I and Mafia I.
  • okavangensis Roberts, 1932 - S Angola, Zambia (S from Balovale) and W Zimbabwe S to N Namibia, N & E Botswana and N South Africa (R Molopo, in N North West Province).
  • cubla ( Latham, 1801) - SE South Africa (S KwaZulu-Natal S along coast to E Western Cape).

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