scarlet-chested sunbird
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Scarlet-chested sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis, at Lake Chivero, Harare, Zimbabwe - male (21247780653).jpg
| image2 = Scarlet-chested sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis, at Lake Chivero, Harare, Zimbabwe -- female (21681942429).jpg
| image2_caption = Male and female at Lake Chivero, Zimbabwe
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Chalcomitra
| species = senegalensis
| authority = (Linnaeus, 1766)
| range_map = Chalcomitra senegalensis distribution map, crop.png
| range_map_caption = {{legend0|#228B22| range|outline=gray}}
| synonyms = *Certhia senegalensis {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}}
- Nectarinia senegalensis {{small|(Linnaeus, 1766)}}
}}
The scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, and from South Sudan to South Africa.{{Cite web |title=Scarlet-chested Sunbird - Chalcomitra senegalensis - Birds of the World |author= |work=birdsoftheworld.org |date= |access-date=15 February 2024 |url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/sccsun2/cur/introduction |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215154256/https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/sccsun2/cur/introduction |url-status=live }}
Range
It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Description
The scarlet-chested sunbird is similar to Hunter's sunbird in appearance, with adult males having a characteristic red–scarlet coloured breast and an iridescent green patch on top of its head. The female is dark brown with no supercilium. It inhabits woodland and gardens, at elevations of up to {{convert|2400|m|ft}}.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOs9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA372 |page=372 |title=Birds of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Socotra |edition=Revised and Expanded |author1=Nigel Redman |author2=Terry Stevenson |author3=John Fanshawe |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-691-17289-7 |access-date=2024-02-28 |archive-date=2024-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228123727/https://books.google.com/books?id=QOs9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA372#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} The bird is around {{convert|13–15|cm|in}} in length, with males having a weight of {{convert|7.5–17.2|g|oz}} and females weighing {{convert|6.8–15.3|g|oz}}.
Taxonomy
{{listen |filename=Scarlet-chested Sunbird (Nectarinia senegalensis) (W1CDR0000938 BD14).ogg |title=Scarlet-chested sunbird song |description=Song recorded in Northern Transvaal, South Africa }}
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the scarlet-chested sunbird in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le grimpereau violet du Sénégal and the Latin Certhia Senegalensis Violacea.{{cite book |last=Brisson |first=Mathurin Jacques |author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson |year=1760 |title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés |volume=3 |language=French, Latin |place=Paris |publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche |pages=660–661, Plate 34 fig 2 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35953763 |access-date=2018-05-10 |archive-date=2018-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013102217/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35953763 |url-status=live }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=J.A. |author-link=Joel Asaph Allen |year=1910 |title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 |pages=317–335 |hdl=2246/678}} When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the scarlet-chested sunbird. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Certhia senegalensis and cited Brisson's work.{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |year=1766 |title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |edition=12th |volume=1, Part 1 |publisher=Laurentii Salvii |place=Holmiae (Stockholm) |language=Latin |page=186 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946382 |access-date=2018-05-10 |archive-date=2018-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014142111/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946382 |url-status=live }} This species is now placed in the genus Chalcomitra that was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853.{{cite book |last=Reichenbach |first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig Reichenbach |year=1853 |title=Handbuch der Speciellen Ornithologie |volume=6 |language=German |place=Dresden and Leipzig |publisher=Expedition der Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte |page=277 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47722984 |access-date=2018-05-10 |archive-date=2018-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014163844/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47722984 |url-status=live }} Six subspecies are recognised.{{cite web |editor1-last=Gill |editor1-first=Frank |editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=David |year=2018 |title=Dippers, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds |work=World Bird List Version 8.1 |url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/dippers/ |publisher=International Ornithologists' Union |access-date=10 May 2018 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129000140/https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/dippers/ |url-status=live }}
Scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis lamperti) female 2.jpg|female C. s. lamperti
feeding on Aloe zebrina
in Kenya
Scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis gutturalis) male Matsapha 2.jpg|male C. s. gutteralis
in Matsapha, Eswatini
Scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis gutturalis) female Matsapha.jpg|female C. s. gutteralis
in Matsapha, Eswatini
Scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis gutturalis) female on African tulip tree Matsapha 2.jpg|fe male C. s. gutteralis
feeding on African tulip tree
in Matsapha, Eswatini
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikispecies|Chalcomitra senegalensis}}
{{Commonscat|Chalcomitra senegalensis|Chalcomitra senegalensis}}
- Scarlet-chested sunbird—[http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/791.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q854678}}