Grey-headed nigrita
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The grey-headed nigrita (Nigrita canicapillus) is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 3,700,000 km2.
| Grey-headed nigrita | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Estrildidae |
| Genus: | Nigrita |
| Species: | N. canicapillus |
| Binomial name | |
| Nigrita canicapillus (Strickland, 1841) | |
It is widespread throughout the African tropical rainforest.
The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Taxonomy
The grey-headed nigrita was formally described in 1841 by the English naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland based on a specimen collected on the island of Bioko (formerly named Fernando Pó), off the west coast of Africa. He coined the binomial name Aethiops canicapillus[2][3] where the specific epithet combines the Latin canus meaning "grey" with -capillus meaning "-capped" or "-headed".[4] The grey-headed nigrita is now one of four species placed in the genus Nigrita that was introduced in 1843 by Strickland.[5]
Six subspecies are recognised:[5]
- N. c. emiliae Sharpe, 1869 – Guinea and Sierra Leone to Togo
- N. c. canicapillus (Strickland, 1841) – south Benin and south Nigeria to central DR Congo and Gabon
- N. c. schistaceus Sharpe, 1891 – south Sudan and east DR Congo to west Kenya and north Tanzania
- N. c. angolensis Bannerman, 1921 – northwest Angola and south DR Congo
- N. c. diabolicus (Reichenow & Neumann, 1895) – central Kenya to north Tanzania
- N. c. candidus Moreau, 1942 – west Tanzania
