The red-bellied paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone rufiventer''), also known as the black-headed paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized

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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

of the family of

monarch flycatcher The monarchs or monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and Grallina, magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivore, insectivorous songbirds with l ...

s. It is native to intra-tropical forests of Africa. The male bird is about long and has a black head, a mainly chestnut body, and a tail with streamers nearly twice as long as the body. The colouring is somewhat variable across the bird's range. Both females and juveniles lack the tail streamers and are a duller brown colour. It is closely related to the

African paradise flycatcher The African paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone viridis'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. The two central tail feathers of the male are extended into streamers that commonly are more than twice as long as the body. The female tail feathers are ...

, and the two can hybridise.

Taxonomy

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher was formally described and illustrated in 1837 by the English zoologist

William Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Muscipeta rufiventer''. Although Swainson was describing birds from West Africa, the type locality has been restricted to Senegal. The specific epithet is

Modern Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

meaning "red-bellied" from Latin ''rufus'' meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" and ''venter'', ''ventris'' meaning "belly". The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is now one of 16 paradise flycatchers placed in the genus ''

Terpsiphone The paradise flycatchers (''Terpsiphone'') are a genus of birds in the family Monarchidae. The genus ranges across Africa and Asia, as well as a number of islands. A few species are migratory, but the majority are resident. The most telling char ...

'' that was introduced in 1827 by the German zoologist Constantin Gloger. Eleven

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''T. r. rufiventer'' ( Swainson, 1837) – Senegal, Gambia and west Guinea * ''T. r. nigriceps'' ( Hartlaub, 1855) – Sierra Leone and Guinea to Togo and southwest Benin * ''T. r. fagani'' ( Bannerman, 1921) – Benin and southwest Nigeria * ''T. r. tricolor'' (

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

, 1843) –

Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...

(island in Gulf of Guinea) * ''T. r. neumanni''

Stresemann Stresemann is a German family name which may refer to: * Christina Stresemann (born 1957), German judge; daughter of Wolfgang Stresemann * Erwin Stresemann (1889 – 1972), German ornithologist * Gustav Stresemann Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 ...

, 1924 – southeast Nigeria to north Angola * ''T. r. schubotzi'' (

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 ...

, 1911) – southeast Cameroon and southwest Central African Republic * ''T. r. mayombe'' ( Chapin, 1932) – Congo and west DR Congo * ''T. r. somereni'' Chapin, 1948 – west, south Uganda * ''T. r. emini'' Reichenow, 1893 – southeast Uganda, west Kenya and northwest Tanzania * ''T. r. ignea'' (Reichenow, 1901) – east Central African Republic, DR Congo, northeast Angola and northwest Zambia * ''T. r. smithii'' (Fraser, 1843) – Annobón Island (south Gulf of Guinea) (Annobón paradise flycatcher) The subspecies ''T. r. smithii'' has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Annobón paradise flycatcher.

References

* ''Birds of The Gambia'' by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, {{Taxonbar, from=Q165856 red-bellied paradise flycatcher Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa red-bellied paradise flycatcher Taxa named by William Swainson