Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Estrildidae
Genus
Hypargos
Surprise Me
Previous Dusky Twinspot
Next Pink-throated Twinspot
- Peters's Twinspot
© Nigel Voaden
- Peters's Twinspot
- Peters's Twinspot
+2
- Peters's Twinspot
- Peters's Twinspot
- Peters's Twinspot
Watch
- Peters's Twinspot
Listen

Peters's Twinspot Hypargos niveoguttatus Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 19, 2013

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

12–13 cm; 12·4-16·9 g (macrospilotus). Male nominate race has forehead and crown grey, back and wing brown, lower rump and uppertail-coverts wine-red, tail black with reddish feather edges; face to neck, throat and upper breast intense crimson-red, lower breast and belly black, breast and flanks with large white spots, vent and undertail coverts unspotted black; iris dark red-brown, eyering pale blue; upper mandible blackish with diffuse greyish-blue lateral triangle near base, lower mandible greyish-blue with broad blackish tip; legs slate-grey. Female is mostly olive-brown above, face grey, chin yellowish, throat buff, upper breast reddish-buff, lower breast to belly and undertail-coverts olive-grey, sides of breast and flanks somewhat darker and with large white spots; bare parts as for male. Juvenile is like female, but breast olive-grey, rest of underparts sooty grey without distinct white spots. Race macrospilotus is very like nominate, but red of face slightly richer, female with red below extending to throat, underparts darker, more sooty grey, flanks blacker.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Races differ minimally, and species sometimes regarded as monotypic. Proposed races idius (described from R Kihambwe, c. 29 km N of Kibondo, in NW Tanzania) and interior (from Sanyati I, on L Kariba, in NW Zimbabwe) treated as synonyms of macrospilotus, as also is baddeleyi (described from Nacala, in NE Mozambique). Two subspecies tentatively recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Hypargos niveoguttatus macrospilotus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

NE Angola, SE DRCongo, Rwanda, Burundi, SE Kenya and extreme S Somalia S to N Zimbabwe and N and C Mozambique (to S of R Zambezi).
SUBSPECIES

Hypargos niveoguttatus niveoguttatus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E Zimbabwe and S Mozambique.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Lowland evergreen thickets, riparian forest, forest edge, Cryptosepalum forest and Marquesia thickets, thickets on termitaria, coastal bush, long grass, along trails. Usually lowlands, to 2000 m in E Africa and 1500 m in Zambia and E Zimbabwe; mainly 500–1300 m in Malawi.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Small grass seeds, e.g. those of Olyra latifolia; also small insects, including ants (Formicidae). Feeds on ground. Forages in pairs and in small groups.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Close contact call a soft rising "tseet" or "tsee-et", distance contact call louder and emphatic "tseeet"; alarm a harsh "tschee". Song a series of high-pitched notes and trills, often with bouncing-ball rhythm, accelerating near end, "tsit, tsit, tsit-tsit-tsit-tsisitsitsitsi"; also a "chip" followed by rattling trill, "spit cheeeeeeeeeeeeee", a series of sharp notes followed by fluty whistle and trill, "sip tooo tssrrrrr", or a complex mix of very high, sibilant trills, mournful downslurred notes and single extended notes. Female has a short song.

Breeding

Season Jan–May in Zambia and Malawi and Jan–Apr in Zimbabwe. Courting male displays on ground, with or without a feather or grass in bill, hops around female; in a bob display, body low to ground, head raised at 70°, he bows 30° below horizontal, then throws head upwards and hops off ground, bobs once per second as he sings. Nest a ball with side entrance, sometimes with tunnel, made from fine maidenhair-fern fronds, roots, small leaf skeletons and dry moss, with decomposing leaves, lined with feathers, fine grass or fine moss, built on ground or low in bush, palm or tree-fern. Clutch 3–6 eggs; incubation period 13–14 days; nestling skin pink with sparse grey down, gape with two large white swellings on each side constricted by a white gape corner, lower swelling develops lateral spot that turns yellow by day 5 and orange by day 18, swellings lack black oral surface, palate yellow with three black spots, tongue and inner and lower mouth unmarked pink; nestling period 21 days; young cared for by both parents for a further 10–12 days. On evidence of song mimicry in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, nests parasitized by Green Indigobird (Vidua codringtoni).

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Generally rather common, but often local. Perhaps commoner in S of range, e.g. locally abundant in Mozambique (Manica e Sofala). In Zimbabwe, density in Dichwe Forest 50 pairs/10 ha; has suffered much habitat loss in Mana Pools National Park owing to extremely high concentrations of large herbivores. In S Mozambique (Sul do Save), was formerly fairly common on coast S to lower R Incomati, but population greatly reduced, to probably fewer than 500 individuals, as a result of habitat destruction; now considered threatened in the region.
Distribution of the Peters's Twinspot - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Peters's Twinspot

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Peters's Twinspot (Hypargos niveoguttatus), 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.pettwi1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos