Red-fronted prinia explained

The red-fronted prinia (Prinia rufifrons), also known as the red-fronted warbler and the red-faced apalis, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae.It is found in Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.Its natural habitat is dry savanna.

Taxonomy

The red-fronted prinia was described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1840 under the binomial name Prinia rufifrons. The type locality is Eritrea (the coastal region of Abyssinia).^{[1] [2]} The specific epithet rufifrons comes from the Latin rufus for "red" and frons for "forehead" or "front".^[3]

There are three subspecies:^[4]

• P. r. rufifrons Rüppell, 1840 – Chad to northwest Somalia
• P. r. smithi (Sharpe, 1895) – southeast Sudan to central Somalia and north Tanzania
• P. r. rufidorsalis (Sharpe, 1897) – southeast Kenya

Many taxonomists place this species in the genus Prinia rather than in its own monotypic genus Urorhipis.^{[5] [6]} Support for this alternative placement is provided by a molecular phylogenetic study of the Cisticolidae published in 2013 that found that the red-fronted warbler was closely related to the prinias.^[7]

References

• Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). pp. 378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona

Notes and References

1. Book: Rüppell, Eduard . Eduard Rüppell . 1840 . Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig . German . Frankfurt am Main . S. Schmerber . 110, Plate 41 fig. 1 .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Cottrell . G. William . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 11 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 171 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 341 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2017 . Grassbirds, Donacobius, Malagasy warblers, cisticolas & allies . World Bird List Version 7.3 . International Ornithologists' Union . 26 August 2017 .
5. Web site: Ryan . P. . Dean . R. . 2017 . Red-fronted Prinia (Prinia rufifrons) . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions . 27 August 2017 . subscription .
6. Web site: Lepage . Denis . Red-fronted Warbler . Avibase . 1 September 2017 .
7. Olsson . U. . Irestedt . M. . Sangster . G. . Ericson . P.G.P. . Alström . P. . 2013 . Systematic revision of the avian family Cisticolidae based on a multi-locus phylogeny of all genera . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 66 . 3 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.11.004 . 23159891 . 790–9 .