Pipits and Wagtails (Motacillidae)

Grassveld Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) - HBW 9, p. 746

French: Pipit africain German: Zimtspornpieper Spanish: Bisbita Africano
Other common names: African/Grassland Pipit; Cameroon Pipit (camaroonensis)

Taxonomy: Anthus cinnamomeus Rüppell, 1840, Simien Mountains, north Ethiopia.
May form a superspecies with A. novaeseelandiae, A. richardi and A. rufulus, and all were formerly treated as conspecific; recent DNA studies, however, do not support a close relationship between them. Some research suggests that present species is more closely related to A. similis. Has been considered to include A. latistriatus as a race; conversely, winterbottomi sometimes treated as a race of latter or of A. similis, and has been synonymized with nominate race of A. nyassae by some authors. Race camaroonensis sometimes conside.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Anthus cinnamomeus Rüppell, 1840, Simien Mountains, north Ethiopia.
May form a superspecies with A. novaeseelandiae, A. richardi and A. rufulus, and all were formerly treated as conspecific; recent DNA studies, however, do not support a close relationship between them. Some research suggests that present species is more closely related to A. similis. Has been considered to include A. latistriatus as a race; conversely, winterbottomi sometimes treated as a race of latter or of A. similis, and has been synonymized with nominate race of A. nyassae by some authors. Race camaroonensis sometimes considered a separate species; described race katangae (from L Musole, in SE DRCongo) merged with lichenya. Fourteen subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • lynesi Bannerman & Bates, 1926 - SE Nigeria, Cameroon, W Chad and W Sudan.
  • camaroonensis Shelley, 1900 - W Cameroon (Mt Manenguba, Mt Cameroon).
  • stabilis Clancey, 1986 - C & SE Sudan.

     See all 14 subspecies
  • lynesi Bannerman & Bates, 1926 - SE Nigeria, Cameroon, W Chad and W Sudan.
  • camaroonensis Shelley, 1900 - W Cameroon (Mt Manenguba, Mt Cameroon).
  • stabilis Clancey, 1986 - C & SE Sudan.
  • cinnamomeus Rüppell, 1840 - W & SE Ethiopian Highlands.
  • eximius Clancey, 1986 - SW Arabia.
  • annae Meinertzhagen, 1921 - Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, SE Kenya and NE Tanzania.
  • itombwensis Prigogine, 1982 - highlands of E DRCongo.
  • lacuum Meinertzhagen, 1920 - SE Uganda, W & S Kenya and N & C Tanzania.
  • winterbottomi Clancey, 1985 - highlands of NE Zambia, N Malawi, S Tanzania and NW Mozambique.
  • lichenya Vincent, 1933 - NE Angola, S & E DRCongo, and from W Uganda S to N & E Zambia, C Malawi, adjacent NW Mozambique, and Zimbabwe plateau.
  • spurium Clancey, 1951 - SE Tanzania S to NE Namibia, Zambezi Valley and coastal lowlands of Mozambique.
  • bocagei Nicholson, 1884 - W & S Angola S to NW South Africa (Northern Cape).
  • grotei Niethammer, 1957 - N Namibia and N Botswana.
  • rufuloides Roberts, 1936 - South Africa (except NW), Swaziland and Lesotho lowlands.