Angola white-eye
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image =
| image_caption =
| status = NE
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref =
| taxon = Zosterops kasaicus
| authority = Chapin, 1932
| synonyms =
}}
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.
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.{{ cite journal | last=Chapin | first=James Paul | author-link=James Chapin | year=1932 | title=Fourteen new birds from tropical Africa | journal=American Museum Novitates | issue=570 | page=15 | hdl=2246/4197 | url=http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4197 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1986 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=12 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=330 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482447 }} 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.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sylvias/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=21 November 2024 }}{{Cite journal | last1=Martins | first1=F.C. | last2=Cox | first2=S.C. | last3=Irestedt | first3=M. | last4=Prŷs-Jones | first4=R.P. | last5=Day | first5=J.J. | date=2020 | title=A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Afrotropical white-eyes (Aves: Zosteropidae) highlights prior underestimation of mainland diversity and complex colonisation history | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=149 | pages=106843 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106843| pmid=32330543 | bibcode=2020MolPE.14906843M }}
Three subspecies are recognised:
- 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