Southern yellow white-eye explained
The southern yellow white-eye (Zosterops anderssoni) is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in parts of southern Africa. It was formerly considered conspecific with the African yellow white-eye.
The southern yellow white-eye was formerly treated as a subspecies of the African yellow white-eye, (renamed the northern yellow white-eye), (Zosterops senegalensis) but it is now considered as a separate species based on the phylogenetic relationships determined in a molecular study in 2013.[1] [2] [3]
Three subspecies are recognised:[3]
- Z. a. anderssoni Shelley, 1892 – east and south Angola and north Namibia to southwest Tanzania, west Mozambique and north South Africa
- Z. a. tongensis Roberts, 1931 – southeast Zimbabwe, south Mozambique and northeast South Africa
- Z. a. stierlingi Reichenow, 1899 – east and south Tanzania, east Zambia, Malawi and north Mozambique
Its diet consists of insects, fruits, seeds, and grains.[4]
Notes and References
- Cox . S.C. . 2013 . Molecular Systematics and Diversification of African Zosteropidae (Aves: Passeriformes) . PhD . University College London .
- Pearson . D.J. . Turner . D.A. . 2017 . A taxonomic review of the genus Zosterops in East Africa, with a revised list of species occurring in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania . Scopus . 37 . 1–13 .
- Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2019 . Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes . World Bird List Version 9.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 24 January 2019 .
- Ojija . Fredrick . Manyanza . Ndaki Marco . 2022-03-07 . Community Structure, Conservation Status, and Functional Groups of Bird Species in Mbeya Range Forests, Tanzania . Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences . 18 . 33–46 . 10.29169/1927-5129.2022.18.05 . 1927-5129.