Sousa's Shrike

About the Sousa's Shrike

Souza's shrike (Lanius souzae) is a species of passerine bird in the family Laniidae, the shrikes. It is thought to be a mainly sedentary species that is found in miombo woodland in southern central Africa. It was named after Portuguese zoologist José Augusto de Sousa (1836–1889).

Souza's shrike was first formally described in 1878 by the Portuguese zoologist José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, with its type locality given as Caconda in Angola. Within the genus Lanius, Souza's shrike has been found to be most closely related to the Southern fiscal (L. collaris), more closely related to that species than the Northern fiscal (L. humeralis), making the fiscal shrike (L. collaris) sensu lato paraphyletic. Souza's shrike and the Southern fiscal appear to have speciated from one another 3.7 million years ago. The genus Lanius, of which Souza's shrike is a member, is classified within the family Laniidae, which sits within the superfamily Corvoidea, part of the clade Corvides in the suborder Passeri of the order Passeriformes.

Souza's shrike has three recognised subspecies: Lanius souzae souzae Barbosa du Bocage. 1878 (southeastern Gabon to southern Republic of... Wikipedia →