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Pycnonotidae
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Phyllastrephus
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Sassi's Greenbul Phyllastrephus lorenzi Scientific name definitions

Lincoln Fishpool and Joseph A. Tobias
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2005

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

c. 15–16 cm; one female 19 g. A small greenbul with distinctive black cap. Lores and ear-coverts are dull olive, some faint darker streaking on ear-coverts, inconspicuous narrow olive eyering, obscure dirty yellowish line from in front of eye to a little way behind it (vague supercilium); forehead olive-brown, forecrown to nape variably mottled black and olive, blackest on crown, sometimes appearing as well-defined black cap, sometimes merely as less distinct darker area; upperparts dark dull olive-brown, uppertail-coverts slightly more rufous, tail dark reddish-brown; wings blackish-brown, outer margins of primaries light greenish-brown, bend of wing olive-yellow; throat olive-yellow, underparts dirty yellowish olive-green, paler olive-yellow in centre of belly, undertail-coverts brownish-yellow; two aberrant museum specimens with irregular warm brown patches on crown, mantle, back, wing-coverts, breast side and lower flanks; iris dark brown; bill blackish-brown, paler lower mandible, cutting edges and tip; legs greyish, greyish-brown or blackish. Distinguished from P. icterinus by darker overall coloration, black cap diagnostic. Sexes alike, female on average smaller than male. Juvenile said have blackish area on crown poorly developed.

Systematics History

Relationship with P. icterinus requires further analysis; the two are almost entirely sympatric, closely similar in structure, overlap in dimensions, and appear also to intergrade in crown colour; possibility of lorenzi being an acromelanistic form of that species has been considered in detail (1), but molecular evidence (2) appears to validate its status as a species. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Scattered localities in NE & E DRCongo; one record from extreme W Uganda (Bwamba).

Habitat

Primary forest at c. 600–1580 m; record at 1820 m requires confirmation. Not recorded from secondary habitats.

Movement

No information.

Diet and Foraging

Little information; likely to be mainly insectivorous. Occurs in small groups in lower and lower-middle strata; joins mixed-species flocks.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

No information.

Breeding

Birds in breeding condition in Jan, Mar–May and Aug. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Eastern Zaïre Lowlands EBA. Poorly known. Recorded from Kibali-Ituri District (from Bondo Mabe and Irumu S to Beni, including Ituri and Semliki forests), with a single record just over the border in Uganda (at Bwamba); in South Kivu, one record from Hombo (W of Mt Kahuzi) and another from around Kamituga (Itombwe); also, a single record from Bambesa, in Uele District. Potentially threatened by clearance of habitat for shifting cultivation, and degradation through the removal of understorey trees to create cocoa plantations; situation exacerbated by this species’ apparent inability to tolerate secondary habitats. Has been recorded from Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, Okapi Faunal Reserve and Mount Hoyo Reserve, but the degree to which its habitat can currently be considered protected is questionable.
Distribution of the Sassi's Greenbul - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Sassi's Greenbul

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Fishpool, L. and J. A. Tobias (2020). Sassi's Greenbul (Phyllastrephus lorenzi), 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.sasgre1.01
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