Cisticolas and Allies (Cisticolidae)

Yellow-breasted Apalis (Apalis flavida) - HBW 11, p. 473

French: Apalis à gorge jaune German: Gelbbauch-Feinsänger Spanish: Apalis Pechigualdo
Other common names: Yellow-chested Apalis; Brown-tailed Apalis (flavocincta, viridiceps)

Taxonomy: Drymoeca flavida Strickland, 1853, Damaraland; error = Ngamiland, Botswana.
Possibly belongs to the superspecies formed by A. binotata and A. personata. NE African arid-woodland races flavocincta and viridiceps sometimes treated as a separate species, altitudinally segregated from adjacent pugnax and abyssinica (found in more mesic woodlands in highlands) and with different songs and plumage. Similar segregation in Tanzania between coastal neglecta and golzi of the more arid interior, but latter intergrades with pugnax in N Tanzania and S Kenya. Has also been suggested that the species should be split on basis of tail length and the width of pale tips of rectrices, but this makes little sense biogeographically. Other proposed races are renata (S Mozambique), lucidigula (E Northern Province, in N South Africa), niassae (extreme E Angola E to SW Tanzania) and tenerrima (coast from S Kenya S to Mozambique), all merged with neglecta; malensis (S Ethiopia) is synonymized with flavocincta. Nine subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

caniceps (Cassin, 1859) - Senegambia E to W Kenya and S to N Angola (Cabinda).
viridiceps Hawker, 1898 - NW Somalia and adjacent Ethiopia.
abyssinica Érard, 1974 - SW Ethiopian Highlands.

See all 9 subspecies

caniceps (Cassin, 1859) - Senegambia E to W Kenya and S to N Angola (Cabinda).
viridiceps Hawker, 1898 - NW Somalia and adjacent Ethiopia.
abyssinica Érard, 1974 - SW Ethiopian Highlands.
flavocincta (Sharpe, 1882) - arid and semi-arid areas of SE Sudan, S Ethiopia, N Uganda, NE Kenya and S Somalia.
pugnax Lawson, 1968 - Kenyan Highlands (where annual rainfall more than 500 mm).
golzi (G. A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884) - SE Kenya (Taita Hills) and Tanzania.
neglecta (Alexander, 1899) - E Angola E to coastal Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and SE Kenya, S to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and N South Africa.
flavida (Strickland, 1853) - W & S Angola, N Namibia, N Botswana, SW Zambia and NW Zimbabwe.
florisuga (Reichenow, 1898) - SE South Africa (C KwaZulu-Natal S to R Gamtoos).