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Black-throated Malimbe Malimbus cassini Scientific name definitions

Adrian J. F. Craig
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 18, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

17 cm; 35 g. Male has scarlet-red forehead, crown and nape, joined by narrow red collar to a broad red patch on breast; lores, cheek, ear-coverts, chin and throat black, as are rest of upperparts, including upperwing and tail, and underparts from belly to vent; iris dark brown; bill black; legs blackish. Female has entire plumage black; bare parts as for male. Juvenile has duller black plumage, especially on ventral surface, forehead dull orange, crown, nape and upperparts black, chin, throat and broad patch on breast pale orange, rest of underparts black, some reddish fringes on undertail-coverts; iris brown, bill light brown, legs brown.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

S Cameroon, SW Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, N & SW Congo, and N DRCongo along major rivers E to Itombwe; reports from Ghana now considered erroneous (1).

Habitat

Dense, tall primary forest, often in swampy areas or in sectors prone to flooding near watercourses; associated with wine palms (Raphia hookeri), oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) and climbing rattan palms. Generally in lowlands, but to 1350 m in Itombwe region (E DRCongo).

Movement

Sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

Diet mainly insects, including crickets and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), mantids (Mantodea) and moths (Lepidoptera); also fruit of the strangler fig Ficus pseudomangifera. Characterized as a sallying insectivore in Congo Basin. Forages in pairs or small groups at middle levels and in canopy (above 20 m), usually not below 6–8 m above ground, although may venture into more open areas; groups of 4–7 individuals seen while feeding on fruits of oil palm in PRCongo. Regularly joins mixed-species flocks, then often associating with Sabine's (Dryoscopus sabini) and Red-eyed Puffbacks (Dryoscopus senegalensis), Rufous-bellied Helmet-shrike (Prionops rufiventris) and Bates's Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone batesi).

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a series of harsh notes followed by nasal sizzling, "tuk tuk tuk szszszzuiiiiin"; group song during nest-building, and at nest-relief incoming bird uses "approach song" to call out sitting bird. Contact calls during foraging group "teuc teuc" or "tsip tsip".

Breeding

Season Nov–Mar in Gabon and Sept and Nov in PRCongo; in DRCongo, Nov in N but Sept–Feb in E (Itombwe region). Apparently monogamous. Initial co-operative nest-building; dominant male then displaces others, and remains with female. Nest construction evidently regularly involves one female and several males; more than one individual working simultaneously, in Gabon five nests built by a pair, 13 nests by two males with a female, and three by three males and a single female, work taking up to 15 days; female appears to take the lead, calling and adopting solicitation posture to induce males to start building; nest highly distinctive, perhaps the most elaborate of nests of all true ploceids, a small bowl from which a very long (up to 1 m), transparent tunnel hangs vertically downwards, finely woven from stiff material, egg-chamber lined with green palm strips, woven in several discrete layers of short, broad strips of material, whereas tunnel composed of single layer of fine, long strips from palm fronds, with fibres projecting loosely at end; attached 10–25 m above ground to spiny petioles of climbing palm, female seen to defoliate area around nest; nest may persist for several seasons, and often several attached successively at same site, although only newly built ones appear to be used for breeding; old nests may be used for roosting. Clutch 2 eggs, pure white, 21·8 x 16·3 mm (DRCongo); incubation by both sexes, stints of nearly 60 minutes recorded, incoming bird calling partner out; chicks fed by both male and female; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods. In PRCongo, fledgling Black Cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus) seen with group of present species and fed by one male, but no indication that it had been raised by this species; possibly fed because of its resemblance to a juvenile malimbe. At Gabon study site, most nests were robbed by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Common within undisturbed forest zone. Reports of this species from Ghana now considered to be referable to M. malimbicus; early records from Nigeria regarded as erroneous.
Distribution of the Black-throated Malimbe - Range Map
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  • Migration
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  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Black-throated Malimbe

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. (2020). Black-throated Malimbe (Malimbus cassini), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bltmal1.01
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