Baker, E.M.

Baker, N.E.

English

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Short communications30The Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger in Tanzania with comments on the Northern Black Tit M. leucomelas, White-shouldered Black Tit M. guineensis and the White-bellied Tit M. albiventrisWe follow Johansson et al. (2013) in using Melaniparus rather than Parus for the genus.Britton (1980) did not admit the Southern Black Tit to the Tanzania avifauna, commenting only that Hall & Moreau (1970) had extended the range of Parus niger north to southeast Tanzania based on the type of P. fuelleborni from Songea District which Sclater (1930) had earlier considered to be a young bird. Parus fuelleborni (Reichenow 1900, Ornithologische Monatsberichte 8: 5) was collected by Friedrich Fülleborn at Undis south of Tunduru near the Tanzania – Mozambique border (11°17’S,  37° 20’E) in 1898, but was not referred to by either Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955), White (1963), Peters (1967) nor by most subsequent authors. Mean-while, Hall & Moreau (1970) mapped a specimen from southern Tanzania but the locality shown was 230 km west of Tunduru.During visits to southeast Tanzania in February 1996, July 2005, November 2014 and August 2016, birds were seen that were suspected to be this species, but it was not until a visit in September 2016 that photographs were obtained that conclusively show that these birds are indeed M. niger (Figs. 1 & 2). The black wing coverts with bold white edges are diagnostic of M. niger while the pale grey belly and pale-tipped under-tail coverts of the female are also clearly seen. Having established that M. ni-ger was perhaps wide-spread in southeast-ern Tanzania we checked all records in the Tanzania Atlas database. We are now of the opinion that the following records all relate to M. niger and these are included as such in the species maps (Maps 1 & 2).Masasi; September 1939  C.J.P. Ionides (might a specimen exist?)Nachingwea; October 1966 (R.J. Stjernstedt)Chitowe; February 1996 (pers. obs.)Ndechela Forest Reserve; September 2000 (M. Baker)70 km southeast of Liwale 4 July 2005; (pers. obs.)Tunduru-Masasi road; May 2009 (D. Peterson)Mwambesi Game Control Area; 22 November 2014 (pers. obs.)Ruvuma River 77 km southwest of Tuduru 27 November 2014; (pers. obs.)Selous Game Reserve southeast boundary; 28 August 2016 L. MlawilaSelous Game Reserve southeast boundary; 31 August 2016 (pers. obs.)Mirui to Ruangwa; 3 September 2016 (pers. obs.)12 km north of Ruangwa; 7 September 2016 (pers. obs.)This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Figure 1. Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger a female from the smoky grey low-er belly and pale tips to the under-tail coverts, southeast Tanzania, 3 Septem-ber 2016.Figure 2. Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger a second view of the diag-nostic wing pattern.Short communications 31The Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger in Tanzania with comments on the Northern Black Tit M. leucomelas, White-shouldered Black Tit M. guineensis and the White-bellied Tit M. albiventrisWe follow Johansson et al. (2013) in using Melaniparus rather than Parus for the genus.Britton (1980) did not admit the Southern Black Tit to the Tanzania avifauna, commenting only that Hall & Moreau (1970) had extended the range of Parus niger north to southeast Tanzania based on the type of P. fuelleborni from Songea District which Sclater (1930) had earlier considered to be a young bird. Parus fuelleborni (Reichenow 1900, Ornithologische Monatsberichte 8: 5) was collected by Friedrich Fülleborn at Undis south of Tunduru near the Tanzania – Mozambique border (11°17’S,  37° 20’E) in 1898, but was not referred to by either Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955), White (1963), Peters (1967) nor by most subsequent authors. Mean-while, Hall & Moreau (1970) mapped a specimen from southern Tanzania but the locality shown was 230 km west of Tunduru.During visits to southeast Tanzania in February 1996, July 2005, November 2014 and August 2016, birds were seen that were suspected to be this species, but it was not until a visit in September 2016 that photographs were obtained that conclusively show that these birds are indeed M. niger (Figs. 1 & 2). The black wing coverts with bold white edges are diagnostic of M. niger while the pale grey belly and pale-tipped under-tail coverts of the female are also clearly seen. Having established that M. ni-ger was perhaps wide-spread in southeast-ern Tanzania we checked all records in the Tanzania Atlas database. We are now of the opinion that the following records all relate to M. niger and these are included as such in the species maps (Maps 1 & 2).Masasi; September 1939  C.J.P. Ionides (might a specimen exist?)Nachingwea; October 1966 (R.J. Stjernstedt)Chitowe; February 1996 (pers. obs.)Ndechela Forest Reserve; September 2000 (M. Baker)70 km southeast of Liwale 4 July 2005; (pers. obs.)Tunduru-Masasi road; May 2009 (D. Peterson)Mwambesi Game Control Area; 22 November 2014 (pers. obs.)Ruvuma River 77 km southwest of Tuduru 27 November 2014; (pers. obs.)Selous Game Reserve southeast boundary; 28 August 2016 L. MlawilaSelous Game Reserve southeast boundary; 31 August 2016 (pers. obs.)Mirui to Ruangwa; 3 September 2016 (pers. obs.)12 km north of Ruangwa; 7 September 2016 (pers. obs.)Further to these 12 records there are 27 observations by Neil Stronach from Febru-ary 1991 to April 1993 from the Selous Game Reserve. Localities named are Kingupira West, Utungu, Ngarambe, Tundu Hill, Kingupira SW and Kandwale. These were all originally submitted as P. leucomelas because P. niger was not known from Tanzania and was not included in any reference books or field guides. None of these records are geo-referenced, simply recorded to Atlas square, roughly a 50 km x 50 km grid (a quarter of a degree square). All are shown on the standard Atlas map (Map 2). All of the 39 records mentioned above are from south of the Rufiji River, a known barrier to bird populations. There are also three observations from just north of the Rufiji River within the Selous Game Reserve. One of these by Neil Stronach from Kimeru / Nbas-sa in October 1991. The other two by Walter Jubber from the vicinity of Beho Beho Lodge in June 2011. A South African birder, Mr. Jubber originally identified these birds as M. niger but included them as M. leucomelas after reading that the former did not occur in Tanzania.Map 1. The distribution in Tanzania of M. niger, M. leucomelas and M. albiventris from the Map 2. The distribution of Southern Black Tit M. niger suggested in this account.a  1. The distri ti  i  a za ia f . niger, . leuco elas a  . albive tris fr  t e geo-referenced records in the Atlas database.Short communications32Further to these 12 records there are 27 observations by Neil Stronach from Febru-ary 1991 to April 1993 from the Selous Game Reserve. Localities named are Kingupira West, Utungu, Ngarambe, Tundu Hill, Kingupira southwest and Kandwale. These were all originally submitted as M. leucomelas because M. niger was not known from Tanzania and was not included in any reference books or field guides. None of these records are geo-referenced, simply recorded to Atlas square, roughly a 50 km x 50 km grid (a quarter of a degree square). All are shown on the standard Atlas map (Map 2). All of the 39 records mentioned above are from south of the Rufiji River, a known barrier to bird populations. There are also three observations from just north of the Rufiji River within the Selous Game Reserve. One of these by Neil Stronach from Kimeru / Nbassa in October 1991. The other two by Walter Jubber from the vicinity of Beho Beho Lodge in June 2011. A South African birder, Mr Jubber originally iden-tified these birds as M. niger but included them as M. leucomelas after reading that the former did not occur in Tanzania. Of the 11 records admitted here that are geo-referenced, the highest altitude is at 988 m along the southwestern boundary trace of the Selous Game Reserve at 10°01’S, 37°30’E in mature Miombo woodland dominated by Brachystegia spp. All other rec-ords to date are below 400 m the lowest altitude is at 211 m north of Ruangwa in dry broad-leafed woodland at 9°52’S, 38°52’E. There is one further geo-referenced record from Miombo woodland at 9°52’S, 38°38’E. From what is known to date this bird prefers the dryer woodland rather than the richer Miombo and this would restrict its distribution in south-eastern Tanzania. The breeding season of this population is not known so we cannot state that any birds are resident within the Miombo belt rather than seasonal visitors from adjacent woodlands.The Atlas database includes six further records from eastern Tanzania that have been assigned to M. leucomelas (Map 3). These records from north of Bagamoyo to Pembe-Abwe south of Pangani include a specimen from November 1929 (Bangs & Loveridge 1933).  This specimen needs to be re-examined to confirm its identity. If it is indeed M. leucomelas insignis as reported then it and the few other extralimital rec-ords can be considered as wanderers from the core range.The Atlas database holds 262 records that we now assign to M. leucomelas. These are shown on standard Atlas maps (Map 3). The 65 geo-referenced records are shown on Map 1. Ignoring potential wanderers to north-eastern coastal areas the altitude range of these geo-referenced records is from 1117 m to 2377 m near Mangangarawa at 9°20’S, 34°20’E.There is a clear ecological and altitude gap between known populations of M. leu-comelas and M. niger. The closest known localities are 252 km (straight line) apart with an altitude difference of 570 m.M. leucomelas is nowhere common but there are now 24 records north of 3° S in northwestern Tanzania (cf. Britton 1980), but rarely has eye colour been described. Britton (1980) allows a specimen of the race M. l. guineensis from Nyarumbugu given as 2°46’S, 31°20’E in the gazetteer. The most recent record from Minziro Forest Reserve in July 2016 (pers. obs.) was clearly a dark-eyed leucomelas rather than a pale-eyed guineensis. It has been established in south-western Uganda that pale-eyed and dark-eyed birds overlap in range (Turner & Pearson 2015). This overlap would appear to extend well into north-western Tanzania, but more careful observations are required to confirm the limits of both taxa. Nyarumbugu is shown by a red square on Map 3.The fourth species of black and white tits in Tanzania is the White-bellied Tit M. albiventris. The 340 geo-referenced records for this widespread species are shown as black triangles on Map 1. Note this is the most widespread of the four species with minimum overlap in range with M. leucomelas and no overlap with M. guineensis or with M. niger.Short communications 33Further to these 12 records there are 27 observations by Neil Stronach from Febru-ary 1991 to April 1993 from the Selous Game Reserve. Localities named are Kingupira West, Utungu, Ngarambe, Tundu Hill, Kingupira southwest and Kandwale. These were all originally submitted as M. leucomelas because M. niger was not known from Tanzania and was not included in any reference books or field guides. None of these records are geo-referenced, simply recorded to Atlas square, roughly a 50 km x 50 km grid (a quarter of a degree square). All are shown on the standard Atlas map (Map 2). All of the 39 records mentioned above are from south of the Rufiji River, a known barrier to bird populations. There are also three observations from just north of the Rufiji River within the Selous Game Reserve. One of these by Neil Stronach from Kimeru / Nbassa in October 1991. The other two by Walter Jubber from the vicinity of Beho Beho Lodge in June 2011. A South African birder, Mr Jubber originally iden-tified these birds as M. niger but included them as M. leucomelas after reading that the former did not occur in Tanzania. Of the 11 records admitted here that are geo-referenced, the highest altitude is at 988 m along the southwestern boundary trace of the Selous Game Reserve at 10°01’S, 37°30’E in mature Miombo woodland dominated by Brachystegia spp. All other rec-ords to date are below 400 m the lowest altitude is at 211 m north of Ruangwa in dry broad-leafed woodland at 9°52’S, 38°52’E. There is one further geo-referenced record from Miombo woodland at 9°52’S, 38°38’E. From what is known to date this bird prefers the dryer woodland rather than the richer Miombo and this would restrict its distribution in south-eastern Tanzania. The breeding season of this population is not known so we cannot state that any birds are resident within the Miombo belt rather than seasonal visitors from adjacent woodlands.The Atlas database includes six further records from eastern Tanzania that have been assigned to M. leucomelas (Map 3). These records from north of Bagamoyo to Pembe-Abwe south of Pangani include a specimen from November 1929 (Bangs & Loveridge 1933).  This specimen needs to be re-examined to confirm its identity. If it is indeed M. leucomelas insignis as reported then it and the few other extralimital rec-ords can be considered as wanderers from the core range.The Atlas database holds 262 records that we now assign to M. leucomelas. These are shown on standard Atlas maps (Map 3). The 65 geo-referenced records are shown on Map 1. Ignoring potential wanderers to north-eastern coastal areas the altitude range of these geo-referenced records is from 1117 m to 2377 m near Mangangarawa at 9°20’S, 34°20’E.There is a clear ecological and altitude gap between known populations of M. leu-comelas and M. niger. The closest known localities are 252 km (straight line) apart with an altitude difference of 570 m.M. leucomelas is nowhere common but there are now 24 records north of 3° S in northwestern Tanzania (cf. Britton 1980), but rarely has eye colour been described. Britton (1980) allows a specimen of the race M. l. guineensis from Nyarumbugu given as 2°46’S, 31°20’E in the gazetteer. The most recent record from Minziro Forest Reserve in July 2016 (pers. obs.) was clearly a dark-eyed leucomelas rather than a pale-eyed guineensis. It has been established in south-western Uganda that pale-eyed and dark-eyed birds overlap in range (Turner & Pearson 2015). This overlap would appear to extend well into north-western Tanzania, but more careful observations are required to confirm the limits of both taxa. Nyarumbugu is shown by a red square on Map 3.The fourth species of black and white tits in Tanzania is the White-bellied Tit M. albiventris. The 340 geo-referenced records for this widespread species are shown as black triangles on Map 1. Note this is the most widespread of the four species with minimum overlap in range with M. leucomelas and no overlap with M. guineensis or with M. niger.AcknowledgementsMarc Baker, Walter Jubber, Leons Mlawila, David Peterson, Neil Stronach and the late Bob Stjernstedt are thanked for submitting records to the Atlas.ReferencesBangs, O. & LOveridge, a. 1933. Reports on the scientific results of an expedition to the south-western highlands of Tanganyika Territory. Part 3. Birds. Bulletin of the Museum of Compara-tive Zoology, Harvard 75: 143–221.BrittOn, P.L. (ed). 1980. Birds of East Africa their habitat, status and distribution. Nairobi: East Af-rica Natural History Society.HaLL, B.P. & MOreau, r.e. 1970. An Atlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. London: Trust-ees of the British Museum (Natural History).JOHanssOn, u.s., ekMan, J., BOwie, r.C.k., HaLvarssOn, P., OHLsOn, J.i., PriCe, t.d. & eriCsOn, P.g.P. 2013. A complete multilocus species phylogeny of the tits and chickadees (Aves: Paridae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 69: 852–860. MaCkwOrtH-Praed, C.w. & grant, C.H.B. 1955. Birds of Eastern and North-Eastern Africa. Lon-don: Longmans, Green and Co.Peters, J.L. (eds e. Mayr & J.C. greenway) 1962. Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol XV. Cam-bridge, Mass: Museum of Comparative Zoology.reiCHenOw, a. 1900. Zur Tierverbreitung in Afrika II. Ornithologische Monatsberichte 8: 5.sCLater, w.L. 1930. Systema Avium Aethiopicarum (part II): A systematic list of the Birds of the Ethi-opian Region. London: British Ornithologists’ Union.turner, d.a. & PearsOn  d.J. 2015. Systematic and taxonomic issues concerning some East Af-rican bird species, notably those where treatment varies between authors. Scopus 34: 1–23.wHite, C.M.n. 1963. A revised check list of African flycatchers, tits, tree creepers, sunbirds, white-eyes, honey eaters, buntings, finches, weavers and waxbills. Lusaka: Government Printer.N.E. and E.M. BakerP.O. Box 396, Iringa, Tanzania. Email: tzbirdatlas@yahoo.co.ukScopus 38(1): 30–33, January 2018Received 15 February 2017Map 3. The distribution of White-winged Black Tit M. leucomelas in Tanzania.

Short communications: The Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger in Tanzania with comments on the Northern Black Tit M. leucomelas, White-shouldered Black Tit M. guineensis and the White-bellied Tit M. albiventris

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Short communications: The Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger in Tanzania with comments on the Northern Black Tit M. leucomelas, White-shouldered Black Tit M. guineensis and the White-bellied Tit M. albiventris

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