Angola white-eye

The Angola white-eye (Zosterops kasaicus), is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. It is found from central Democratic Republic of the Congo to northern and central Angola. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern yellow white-eye.

Angola white-eye
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Zosterops
Species:	Z. kasaicus
Binomial name
Zosterops kasaicus Chapin, 1932

Taxonomy

The Angola white-eye was formally described in 1932 by the American ornithologist James Chapin based on a specimen that had been collected near Luluabourg (now Kananga) in the Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chapin considered his specimen to be a subspecies of the forest white-eye (Zosterops stenocricotus) and coined the trinomial name Zosterops stenocricotus kasaicus.^[1][2] The Angola white-eye was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern yellow white-eye (Zosterops senegalensis). The species were split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2020 that found significant genetic divergence between the two species.^[3][4]

Three subspecies are recognised:^[3]

• Z. k. kasaicus Chapin, 1932 – central DR Congo to northeast Angola
• Z. k. heinrichi Meise, 1958 – northwest Angola
• Z. k. quanzae Meyer de Schauensee, 1933 – central Angola