Pale white-eye explained

The pale white-eye also known as Kenya white-eye^[1] (Zosterops flavilateralis) is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in Kenya, eastern Tanzania, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia.

Taxonomy

The pale white-eye was formally described in 1892 by the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow under the current binomial name Zosterops flavilateralis.^{[2] [3]} The specific epithet flavilateralis combines Latin flavus meaning "yellow" with lateralis meaning "of the sides".^[4] The pale white-eye was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Abyssinian white-eye (Zosterops abyssinicus) but is now treated as a separate species.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Two subspecies are recognised:^[7]

• Z. f. flavilateralis Reichenow, 1892 – central, east Kenya to east Tanzania
• Z. f. jubaensis Erlanger, 1901 – south Ethiopia, south Somalia and north Kenya

Notes and References

1. Web site: Zosterops flavilateralis (Kenya White-eye) - Avibase. https://web.archive.org/web/20200630021838/https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=F80D69C294CD488C. dead. June 30, 2020. avibase.bsc-eoc.org. 2019-05-02.
2. Reichenow . Anton . Anton Reichenow . 1892 . Zur Vogelfauna von Kamerun. Erster Nachtrag . Journal für Ornithologie . 40 . 177–195 [192] . 10.1007/BF02250238 . German .
3. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 12 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 328 .
4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 161 .
5. Cox . S. . Prys-Jones . R. . Habel . J. . Amakobe . B. . Day . J. . 2014 . Niche divergence promotes rapid diversification of East African sky island white-eyes (Aves: Zosteropidae) . Molecular Ecology . 23 . 16 . 4103–4118 . 10.1111/mec.12840 . free . 24954273 . 4255762 . 2014MolEc..23.4103C .
6. Pearson . D.J. . Turner . D.A. . 2017 . A taxonomic review of the genus Zosterops in East Africa, with a revised list of species occurring in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania . Scopus . 37 . 1–13 .
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela C. Rasmussen . December 2023 . Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes . IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 15 July 2024 .