The mountain sooty boubou (''Laniarius poensis''), western boubou or mountain boubou, is a species of

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 ...

in the family Malaconotidae.

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with the

Albertine sooty boubou The Albertine sooty boubou (''Laniarius holomelas'') is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in Rwanda, Burundi and adjacent areas of Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was formerly considered as a subspeci ...

(''Laniarius holomelas''), with Willard's sooty boubou (''Laniarius willardi''), and with Fülleborn's sooty boubou (''Laniarius fuelleborni''). Two subspecies are currently recognized: nominate ''L. p. poensis'', which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Bioko; and ''L. p. camerunensis'' which occurs on mainland Africa.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the Cameroon line from

Bioko Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

north to

Mount Oku Mount Oku, or Kilum Mountain, is the largest volcano in the Oku Massif, in the Cameroon Volcanic Line, located in the Oku region of the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. It is the second highest mountain in mainland Central Africa. The stratovolc ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and the

Obudu Plateau --> Obudu Plateau is a plateau found on the Oshie Ridge of the Sankwala Mountain range, in Cross River State, in the southeast of Nigeria. The plateau is found in Obanliku local government area of the Cross River State. The plateau extends toward ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. In the

Cameroon highlands The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

, it is found in

montane forests Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

, usually above 600 m in elevation. On

Mount Cameroon Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its indigenous n ...

, this species can occur at extremely low elevations on the

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

slopes near the coast, with records from as low as c. 520 m above sea level. On both Bioko and Mt. Cameroon, this taxon is restricted to

References

mountain sooty boubou The mountain sooty boubou (''Laniarius poensis''), western boubou or mountain boubou, is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. Taxonomy It was formerly considered conspecific with the Albertine sooty boubou (''Laniarius holomelas'') ...

Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Birds of Central Africa

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Malaconotidae-stub