Blue-mantled crested flycatcher

The blue-mantled crested flycatcher or African crested flycatcher (Trochocercus cyanomelas) is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae found in eastern and south-eastern Africa.

Blue-mantled crested flycatcher
Female photographed in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Monarchidae
Genus: Trochocercus
Species:
T. cyanomelas
Binomial name
Trochocercus cyanomelas
(Vieillot, 1818)
Subspecies

See text

Synonyms
  • Muscicapa cyanomelas
  • Terpsiphone cyanomelas

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Taxonomy and systematics

The blue-mantled crested flycatcher was originally described in the genus Muscicapa and some authorities have also classified it in the genus Terpsiphone. Alternate names for the blue-mantled crested flycatcher include blue-mantled flycatcher, blue-mantled paradise-flycatcher, Cape crested-flycatcher and crested flycatcher.

Subspecies

Five subspecies are recognized:[2]

  • T. c. vivax - Neave, 1909: Found from Uganda and north-western Tanzania to south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern and western Zambia
  • East African crested flycatcher (T. c. bivittatus) - Reichenow, 1879: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Somalia to eastern Tanzania
  • T. c. megalolophus - Swynnerton, 1907: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Malawi and northern Mozambique to Zimbabwe and eastern KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
  • T. c. segregus - Clancey, 1975: Found in eastern Northern Province and western KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
  • T. c. cyanomelas - (Vieillot, 1818): Found in south and south-eastern South Africa

Diet

Like all members of the monarch flycatcher family, the blue-mantled crested flycatcher is insectivorous.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Trochocercus cyanomelas". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. "IOC World Bird List 6.3". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.3.


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