Dark Batis (Batis crypta)

Adult, female. No subspecies recognized. Udzungwa Mts, June 2007. Copyright@; Louis A. Hansen. Formerly thought a variation/or subspecies within/of the Batis mixta complex, but only due to poor illustrations of this taxon. However, recent fieldwork gave the impression that "something" was wrong here. Jon Fjeldså, Rauri C. K. Bowie and Jacob Kiure - later described it as a full valid species. The characters that distinguish the two mentioned taxa are (e.g.): male has no white supercilium stripe; female has chestnut-cinnamon wing coverts (will at a later point upload another picture of a female seen from the breast; here one should note the chestnut breast feathers which are tipped white). See also uploaded picture of a male of this taxon. In addition see the new initiative started at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen with digitalizing the Tanzania bird collection: http://www.zmuc.dk/VerWeb/Tanzanian_Vertebrates/Bird/Bird_type/Batis_crypta_95.263/Batis_crypta_95.263.html

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