Sunbirds (Nectariniidae)

Kenya Violet-backed Sunbird (Anthreptes orientalis) - HBW 13, p. 251

French: Souimanga du Kenya German: Schwalbennektarvogel Spanish: Suimanga Keniata
Other common names: Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird, Kenya Sunbird

Taxonomy: Anthreptes orientalis Hartlaub, 1880, Lado, on Bahr-el-Jebel (White Nile), Sudan.
Forms a superspecies with A. longuemarei, A. neglectus and A. aurantius. Two proposed races, neumanni (described from Afgoi, in S Somalia) and barbouri (from Dodoma, in Tanzania), are both considered insufficiently differentiated from birds elsewhere in range. Monotypic.

Distribution: SE Sudan, Ethiopia and NW & S Somalia S to N Uganda, Kenya and NE & WC Tanzania, also Rwanda,