White-headed Barbet Lybius leucocephalus Scientific name definitions

The White-headed Barbet is a well-named endemic of more lightly wooded regions, even including suburban gardens, across the central third of Africa, where it has a disjunct distribution around the Congo Basin, from Nigeria in the north and west, east to South Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania, and in the southwest Angolan highlands, in the south. Some six subspecies are recognized, generally subdivided into three groups, which have occasionally been considered to represent multiple species; all have black-and-white plumage and a chunky black bill, but the presence, strength, and distribution of white markings on the upperparts vary, as does tail color (dark or white), and the presence (or absence) and distribution of dark markings below. The taxonomic discussion has some conservation implications; whilst five of the subspecies are reasonably common, Angolan leucogaster (which compromises one of the three groups) is decidedly uncommon and very local, being known from rather few and increasingly deforested localities. Like other barbets, this very distinctive species nests in holes in trees (although it will also accept nest boxes) and is apparently a cooperative breeder, with regularly one or two helpers in addition to the pair excavating the nest cavity, incubating the eggs, feeding the young, and defending the immediate area around the nest, although the precise incidence of such behavior is unknown. The species is apparently parasitized by the Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor), and its vocalizations, displays, and interactions with the honeyguide have been well studied by Lester Short and the late Jenny Horne in Kenya.