Dark batis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Platysteiridae
Genus: Batis
Species:
B. crypta
Binomial name
Batis crypta
Fjeldså, Bowie & Kiure, 2006

The dark batis (Batis crypta) is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Batis in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae. It is found in highland forest in south-west Tanzania, northern Malawi, and northern Mozambique. These birds were formerly thought to be forest batises (B. mixta) but in 2006 were described as a new species based on differences in morphology and mitochondrial DNA from those birds in northern Tanzania and Kenya.

Description

The dark batis is about 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and weighs 10–15 g (0.35–0.53 oz). It has a dark bill and legs and red eyes. The male is white below with a broad black breastband. Above it has a dark grey crown, grey back with some black feather-tips, a black face-mask and black wings with a white stripe. The female has a greyish crown, brownish back, dark mask, slight white supercilium and a narrow rufous stripe on the wing. Below it has a rufous chin-spot and breast with whitish tips to some of the feathers.[2]

The forest batis has a slightly shorter tail. Males of the two species are very similar but forest batises have a narrower breastband and usually some hint of a white supercilium which is lacking in the male dark batis. The females are more distinctive: female forest batises have a paler breast and chin with more white tips giving a mottled appearance. There is a conspicuous white supercilium and a broad rufous wing-stripe.[2]

The dark batis has a variety of whistling and harsh churring calls and its wings make a whirring sound in flight. The male's song is a series of short, low whistles.[2]

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the Eastern Arc Mountains of East Africa from the Ukaguru Mountains and Uluguru Mountains of central Tanzania south-westwards as far as the Misuku Hills in northernmost Malawi and the Njesi Highlands in northern Mozambique.[3][4]

It inhabits evergreen forest from 540 to 2,140 metres (1,770 to 7,020 ft) above sea-level and is most common around 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It forages mainly in the lower and middle levels of trees, feeding on insects such as termites.[5]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2017). "Batis crypta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22734421A118746565. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22734421A118746565.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Fjeldså, Jon; Bowie, Rauri C. K.; Kiure, Jacob (2006). "The forest batis, Batis mixta, is two species: description of a new, narrowly distributed Batis species in the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot" (PDF). Journal of Ornithology. 147 (4): 578–590. doi:10.1007/s10336-006-0082-4. S2CID 31793603. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  3. ↑ Louette, Michel (2020). Del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi; Christie, David; De Juana, Eduardo (eds.). "Dark Batis (Batis crypta)". Handbook of Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. doi:10.2173/bow.darbat1.01. S2CID 216365153. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  4. ↑ Samuel EI Jones, Gabriel A Jamie, Emidio Sumbane & Merlijn Jocque (2020) The avifauna, conservation and biogeography of the Njesi Highlands in northern Mozambique, with a review of the country’s Afromontane birdlife, Ostrich, 91:1, 45-56, DOI: 10.2989/00306525.2019.1675795
  5. ↑ Harris, Tony; Franklin, Kim (2000). Shrikes and Bush-shrikes. Christopher Helm. pp. 300–301. ISBN 0-7136-3861-3.
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