Blue-mantled crested flycatcher

The blue-mantled crested flycatcher or African crested flycatcher (Trochocercus cyanomelas) is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae found in eastern and south-eastern Africa.

Blue-mantled crested flycatcher
Female photographed in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Monarchidae
Genus:	Trochocercus
Species:	T. cyanomelas
Binomial name
Trochocercus cyanomelas (Vieillot, 1818)
Subspecies
See text
Synonyms
Muscicapa cyanomelas Terpsiphone cyanomelas

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Taxonomy and systematics

The blue-mantled crested flycatcher was originally described in the genus Muscicapa and some authorities have also classified it in the genus Terpsiphone. Alternate names for the blue-mantled crested flycatcher include blue-mantled flycatcher, blue-mantled paradise-flycatcher, Cape crested-flycatcher and crested flycatcher.

T. c. vivax

Subspecies

Five subspecies are recognized:^[2]

• T. c. vivax - Neave, 1909: Found from Uganda and north-western Tanzania to south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern and western Zambia
• East African crested flycatcher (T. c. bivittatus) - Reichenow, 1879: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Somalia to eastern Tanzania
• T. c. megalolophus - Swynnerton, 1907: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Malawi and northern Mozambique to Zimbabwe and eastern KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
• T. c. segregus - Clancey, 1975: Found in eastern Northern Province and western KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
• T. c. cyanomelas - (Vieillot, 1818): Found in south and south-eastern South Africa

Diet

Like all members of the monarch flycatcher family, the blue-mantled crested flycatcher is insectivorous.