Cape Grassbird

About the Cape Grassbird

The Cape grassbird or Cape grass warbler (Sphenoeacus afer) is an African warbler found in southern Africa. It is the only species placed in the genus Sphenoeacus. The Cape grassbird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus Muscicapa and coined the binomial name Muscicapa afra. Gmelin based his description on the "spotted yellow flycatcher" from the Cape of Good Hope that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. The Cape grassbird is now the only species placed in the genus Sphenoeacus that was introduced in 1841 by the English naturalist Hugh Strickland. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek sphēn meaning "wedge" with oiax meaning "helm". The specific epithet afer is Latin meaning "African".

Four subspecies are recognised: S. a. excisus Clancey, 1973 – Eastern Highlands S. a. natalensis Shelley, 1882 – northeast South Africa, west Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and north Lesotho S. a. intermedius Shelley, 1882 – east South Africa

S. a. afer... Wikipedia →