Reichenow's batis


Reichenow's batis is a passerine bird in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae occurring in southeast Tanzania in east Africa. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the forest batis.

Taxonomy

Reichenow's batis was described by the German Ornithologist Hermann Grote in 1911 and given its current binomial name Batis reichenowi. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow. Reichenow's batis previously been treated as a subspecies of the forest batis and of the Cape batis. Although the plumage of Reichenow's batis distinctive, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2006 found that the DNA from specimens of Reichenow's batis were nested within sequences of the forest batis.