Red-bellied paradise flycatcher

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), also known as the black-headed paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird of the family of monarch flycatchers. It is native to intra-tropical forests of Africa. The male bird is about 17 cm (7 in) long and has a black head, a mainly chestnut body, and a tail with streamers nearly twice as long as the body. The colouring is somewhat variable across the bird's range. Both females and juveniles lack the tail streamers and are a duller brown colour. It is closely related to the African paradise flycatcher, and the two can hybridise.

Red-bellied paradise flycatcher
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Monarchidae
Genus:	Terpsiphone
Species:	T. rufiventer
Binomial name
Terpsiphone rufiventer (Swainson, 1837)
Synonyms
Muscipeta rufiventer

Taxonomy

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher was formally described and illustrated in 1837 by the English zoologist William Swainson under the binomial name Muscipeta rufiventer.^[2] Although Swainson was describing birds from West Africa, the type locality has been restricted to Senegal.^[3] The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "red-bellied" from Latin rufus meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" and venter, ventris meaning "belly".^[4] The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is now one of 16 paradise flycatchers placed in the genus Terpsiphone that was introduced in 1827 by the German zoologist Constantin Gloger.^[5]

Eleven subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• T. r. rufiventer (Swainson, 1837) – Senegal, Gambia and west Guinea
• T. r. nigriceps (Hartlaub, 1855) – Sierra Leone and Guinea to Togo and southwest Benin
• T. r. fagani (Bannerman, 1921) – Benin and southwest Nigeria
• T. r. tricolor (Fraser, 1843) – Bioko (island in Gulf of Guinea)
• T. r. neumanni Stresemann, 1924 – southeast Nigeria to north Angola
• T. r. schubotzi (Reichenow, 1911) – southeast Cameroon and southwest Central African Republic
• T. r. mayombe (Chapin, 1932) – Congo and west DR Congo
• T. r. somereni Chapin, 1948 – west, south Uganda
• T. r. emini Reichenow, 1893 – southeast Uganda, west Kenya and northwest Tanzania
• T. r. ignea (Reichenow, 1901) – east Central African Republic, DR Congo, northeast Angola and northwest Zambia
• T. r. smithii (Fraser, 1843) – Annobón Island (south Gulf of Guinea) (Annobón paradise flycatcher)

The subspecies T. r. smithii has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Annobón paradise flycatcher.^[5]