Sunbirds (Nectariniidae)

Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus) - HBW 13, p. 292

French: Souimanga à ventre jaune German: Ziernektarvogel Spanish: Suimanga Variable
Other common names: Yellow-bellied/Yellow-breasted/Buff-breasted/Buff-chested Sunbird; White-bellied (Variable)/Somali Sunbird (albiventris); Orange-bellied (Variable) Sunbird (igneiventris)

Taxonomy: Certhia venusta Shaw, 1799, Sierra Leone.
Genus often subsumed in Nectarinia. Has been thought to be closely related to, and possibly forming a superspecies with, C. ursulae. Other proposed races include blicki (described from S shore L Stefanie, in SW Ethiopia), synonymized with albiventris, and sukensis (from R Turkwell, in N Kenya), merged with fazoqlensis; kuanzae (Malanje, in N Angola), niassae (Malawi), cyanescens (Zanzibar) and stierlingi (Uhehe, in S Tanzania) are all treated as synonyms of falkensteini. Five subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

venustus (Shaw, 1799) - Senegal, Gambia and Sierra Leone E to Nigeria, N Cameroon and Central African Republic.
fazoqlensis (Heuglin, 1873) - E Sudan, Eritrea and W Ethiopia.
albiventris (Strickland, 1852) - E & S Ethiopia, Somalia and NE Kenya.

See all 5 subspecies

venustus (Shaw, 1799) - Senegal, Gambia and Sierra Leone E to Nigeria, N Cameroon and Central African Republic.
fazoqlensis (Heuglin, 1873) - E Sudan, Eritrea and W Ethiopia.
albiventris (Strickland, 1852) - E & S Ethiopia, Somalia and NE Kenya.
falkensteini G. A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884 - SE Sudan S to W & S Kenya, and from S Gabon and W Angola E to S DRCongo, Tanzania (including Pemba I and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
igneiventris Reichenow, 1899 - E DRCongo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.