The green-backed camaroptera (''Camaroptera brachyura''), also known as the bleating camaroptera, is a small bird in the family

Cisticolidae The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. This family probably originated ...

. This

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

is a resident breeder in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

south of the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. Recent studies suggest this species and the

grey-backed camaroptera The grey-backed camaroptera (''Camaroptera brevicaudata'') is a small bird in the family Cisticolidae. This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Recent studies suggest this species and the green-backed camaroptera may ...

may be the same species. This skulking

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

is typically found low in dense cover. The green-backed camaroptera binds large leaves together low in a bush and builds a grass nest within the leaves. The normal clutch is two or three eggs. These 11.5 cm long warblers have green upperparts. The wings are olive and the underparts whitish grey. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler yellow on the breast. Like most members in the group, green-backed camaroptera is insectivorous. The green-backed camaroptera was described by the French ornithologist

Louis Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collecte ...

in 1821 under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Sylvia brachyura''. The type locality is the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''brachyura'' is from the Ancient Greek ''brakhus'' for "short" and ''-ouros'' for "-tailed". There are five

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: * ''C. b. pileata''

Reichenow Anton Reichenow (1 August 1847 in Charlottenburg – 6 July 1941 in Hamburg) was a German ornithologist and herpetologist. Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Natural History Museum of Berlin from 1874 to 1921. He was ...

, 1891 – southeast Kenya to southeast Tanzania * ''C. b. fugglescouchmani''

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, 1939 – northeast Zambia, north Malawi and east Tanzania * ''C. b. bororensis'' Gunning & Roberts, 1911 – south Tanzania, south Malawi and north Mozambique * ''C. b. constans'' Clancey, 1952 – southeast Zimbabwe, south Mozambique and northeast South Africa * ''C. b. brachyura'' (Vieillot, 1821) – south and east South Africa

References

External links

* Green-backed camaroptera
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4865244

green-backed camaroptera The green-backed camaroptera (''Camaroptera brachyura''), also known as the bleating camaroptera, is a small bird in the family Cisticolidae. This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Recent studies suggest this species ...

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa