Starlings (Sturnidae)

Chestnut-bellied Starling (Lamprotornis pulcher) - HBW 14, p. 748

French: Choucador à ventre roux German: Rotbauch-Glanzstar Spanish: Estornino Ventrirrufo

Taxonomy: Turdus pulcher Statius Müller, 1776, Senegal.
Previously sometimes placed in genus Spreo. Has been thought to form a superspecies with L. hildebrandti and L. shelleyi, but exhibits several morphological differences from those two. Proposed race rufiventris (described from N Ethiopia) considered indistinguishable from individuals in rest of species' range. Monotypic.

Distribution: Throughout Sahel region, from S Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, S Mali and Burkina Faso E to C Sudan, Eritrea and NW Ethiopia.