VOL. XI, PART 12 ISSUED 30th SEPTEMBER, 1977
MISCELLANEOUS TAXONOMIC NOTES ON AFRICAN BIRDS XLIX
b y
P. A. CLANCEY
(Director, Durban M useum, Durban)
SUBSPECIFIC VARIATION IN THE REDCRESTED
K O R H A A N EUPODOTIS (LOPHOTIS) RUFICRISTA
(SM ITH ), 1836
The small Redcrested Korhaan or Bustard Eupodotis (Lophotis)
ruficrista was described by Dr. Andrew Smith in his Report of the
Expedition for Exploring Central Africa, 1836, p. 56, where it is
stated to inhabit the country between Latakoo (Kuru m an) and the
T ropic of Capricorn. In his Illustrations o f the Zoology o f South Africa,
Aves, 1838, pi. iv (and text), the collecting local ity is m ore precisely
given by the author, when Sm ith states that the “sp ecies w as first
discovered in the vicinity of Latakoo,” which m ay b e accepted as
the type-locality. The Redcrested Korhaan is freque ntly considered
to be conspecific with two northern Ethiopian Afric an bustards:
Eupodotis (L .) gindiana Oustalet, 1881: between Som aliland and
Zanzibar, East A frica=B ardera, Giuba R ., south-west ern Som alia,
according to M ackworth-Praed and Grant, Birds Eastern and North Eastern Africa, vol. i, 1952, p. 323, send Eupodotis (L .) savilei L y n e s , 1920: En Nahud, western K ordofan, Sudan, though Scl a t e r , Syst.Av. Aethiop., part i, 1924, p. 115, treats ruficrista, gindiana a n d savilei a s
three separate species, w hich latter arrangem ent ap pears to be nearer
the truth of the m atter.
The north-eastern gindiana differs in the adult m ale in lacking the
leaden streak below the eye, in being paler and m or e cream y, less
bluish grey, over the sides of the neck, and on the breast the w hite is
[Price R 1,00 nett] Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated .) Publisher granted by the under licence Sabinet Gateway Reproduced by 2 2 4 Miscellaneous Taxonomic Notes on African Birds
m ore extensive. The black of the throat is extended dow n the centre
of the low er fore-throat and m id-breast to link up with the black ven
tral surface, narrow ly sundering the pectoral white . The crest is also
m arkedly paler, m ore buffy (hence the vernacular na m e Buffcrested
Bustard), less vinous than in ruficrista. The dorsum further exhibits
m arkedly reduced cream -coloured sagittate markings, appearing
m ore uniform , and in the wings the remiges have the inner vanes
extensively pale greenish yellow, form ing a pale ye llow patch over
the ventral w ing when closed. In ruficrista this surface appears black.
The north-western savilei is m ore rufous-sandy above than gindiana,
the black over the throat in m ales not extending ca udad to the lower
fore-throat and breast, and the white on the breast again restricted
laterally as in ruficrista, which it also resem bles in the m ale having a
grey sm udge-m ark below the eye. Bannerman, Birds of Tropical
West Africa, vol. ii, 1931, p. 62, gives wings of savilei a s
243 - 257, 9? 240 - 246mm in ten measured, these me asurem ents
sm aller than in the austral ruficrista. T h e f o r m s savilei a n d gindiana (with its second race E.(L.) g.hilgerti (Neum ann), 1907: Dabab, nor
thern Som alia), while probably not in contact in th e southern Sudan,
are still not spatially rem ote in this region of no rth-eastern A frica.
They m ay be considered a parapatric pair of allospe cies rather than
being treated as conspecific at this stage in our u nderstanding of
the relationships of the small African bustards of the sub-genus
Lophotis Reichenbach, 1848.
As for the southern African Redcrested K orhaan, I c an see no ad
vantage in associating this form with gindiana a n d savilei o w i n g t o
the wide range of characters separating the adult m ales and the ex
tensive geographical gap between it and the tw o lat ter taxa. The
southern populations of gindiana reach as far south as east-central
Tanzania according to M ackworth-Praed and Grant, loc.cit., w h i l e ruficrista ranges no further north-east than south-w estern and s o u t h
ern Zam bia and about the Gorongosa National Park in s o u t h e r n
M o 5a m b i q u e .
E.(L.) ruficrista is distributed from south-western and southern
Angola and South W est Africa, east to south-western and southern
Zam bia, Rhodesia, southern M o 5am bique, the Transvaal north of
the highveld, Botswana, the northern Cape, eastern Swaziland, and
eastern Zululand. It affects lightly to m oderately densely wooded
savanna with a good grass understorey, and, while q uite num erous
in som e localities, tends to be highly local. A t no tim e has it been
suggested that the populations show anything in the nature of sub-
specifically significant variation. A recent study reveals, however,
that the accepted uniform ity of the populations is an illusion, and Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated .) Publisher granted by the under licence Sabinet Gateway Reproduced by by P . A . Clancey 2 2 5
that in com m on w ith m any other birds whose ranges e xtend from the
xeric west of the South African Sub-Region to the m esic south
eastern coastal lowlands, the Redcrested Korhaan ca n be arranged
in tw o subspecies, based on variation in the colour ation of the upper-
p a r t s .
The xeric western populations of ruficrista, extending probably
from south-western Angola, but certainly from the K a o k o -
veld, south to northern and eastern Great Nam aquala n d , S o u t h
W est Africa, the western Kalahari in Botswana, and the north-west
of the northern Cape differ at above the accepted l evel of discrim ina
tion for subspecies from the populations occurring to the north-east
and east in having the m antle, scapulars, tertials and adjacent wing-
surfaces redder, m ore ochraceous-rusty, less dull e arthen or stone-
coloured. Such a pattern of colour variation is com m on to m any plas
tic species w ith com parable distributions in the dr y interior and far
west of the South African Sub-Region.
A short series of ruficrista from Kurum an, the type-locality, shows
that the tw o facies m eet in this district of the no rthern Cape. O f four
from Kuruman in the collection of the Durban Museum , o n e r e
sem bles the reddish backed western elem ent, the oth ers the eastern
populations, w ith w hich latter, acting as first rev iser, I here form ally
associate the nom inate subspecies. Study of the ori ginal description
of Sm ith’s Otis ruficrista of 1836 at first suggested that the name
m ight be m ore accurately assigned to the reddish ba cked western
population, but the coloured figure by the artist G eorge Ford in
S m i t h ’ s Illustrations (pi. iv of 1838) is clearly of the duller, m ore
earthen brown, backed eastern populations, which ar e treated as
the nom inate subspecies in the following arrangem en t of this sou
thern African bustard:
(a) Eupodotis (Lopliotis) ruficrista ochrofacies, s u b s p . n o v .
T ype: 3 , adult. 109,5km from Stam prietfontein to D ordabis, c e n
tral South W est A frica. 3 M ay, 1959. Collected on T ransvaal M useum
N am ib E xpedition, 1959. In the collection of the Tr ansvaal M useum ,
T.M .Reg.N o. 29 806.
Diagnosis: Differs from nom inate ruficrista, as defined below , in
the adult fem ale having the fore-throat and breast more washed
with warm buffy (deep Pinkish Buff (pi. xxix)) in n ewly m oulted
condition, and taxonom ically in both sexes having t he ground to
the dorsum and adjacent wing-surfaces paler and m or e ochraceous-
rusty, less dull earthen or stone-coloured (Cinnamo n (Ridgway
(1912), pi. xxix), versus dull Saccardo's U m ber (sam e pi-)), the dark Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated .) Publisher granted by the under licence Sabinet Gateway Reproduced by 2 2 6 Miscellaneous Taxonomic Notes on African Birds
m edian surfaces to the pale buffy sagittate shaft-s treaking and ver-
m iculations also rather lighter and redder brow n. R um p, upper tail-
coverts and rectrices with rather coarser transvers e verm iculations
on a lighter ground. Sim ilar ventrally and in size. The juvenile does
not differ.
Measurements: W ings in 6 adult 264 - 272 (266,5), SD 3,50,
culm ens from base 42 - 47,5 (45,0), SD 2,47, tarsi (approx.) 74 - 92
(85,2), SD 6,13, tails 140 - 148 (144,0), SD 3,03, wings of 4 $$ 248 -
256 (250,7), SD 3,59, culm ens 42 - 49 (44,7), SD 2, 99, tarsi (approx.)
73 - 86,5 (77,3), SD 6,16, tails 129 - 135 (133,2), SD 2,87m m .
Material examined: 1 0 (northern Cape: K u r u m a n ; south-western
Botswana: 96,5km N. of Boshu Bohulu Pan, 29km E. of Tshane; South West Africa: 109,5km Stam prietfontein - D ordabis, near Otji-
warongo, W arm quelle, Ohopoho).
Range: Northern Cape west of 23° E., western Kalahari Dese r t
in Botsw ana (west of 23° E .), South W est Africa, we st and south of
the Etosha Pan, north to the Kaokoveld. South-weste r n A n g o l a
birds probably belong here.
Measurements of the Type: W ing (flattened) 265, culmen from
base 44, tarsus c. 86, tail 142m m .
Remarks: W arm reddish brown or cinnamon upper-parts dis
tinguish this western race.
(b) Eupodotis (Lophotis) ruficrista ruficrista ( S m i t h )
Otis ruficrista A . S m i t h , Rep.Exped.Expl.Centr.Afr., 1836, p. 56:
“between Latakoo and the Tropic” =K urum an, northern C a p e .
A dult m ale with pileum dark bluish slate; on nape a lank crest of
pinkish vinous decom posed feathers. Dorsum with gro und dull Sac-
cardo’s Um ber, or m ore vinaceous, the feathers m ark ed with Pink
ish B uff sagittate m arkings and heavily verm iculate d; rum p, upper
tail-coverts and rectrices pale buffish grey, verm i culated w ith darker.
A dult fem ale with pileum streaked Pinkish Buff and dark brown;
nuchal crest vestigial. Rest of dorsal surface as i n male. Ground to
fore-throat V inaceous-Buff (pi. xl).
Material examined: 2 5 ( northern South West Africa: Etosha Pan
region, G rootfontein; Botswana: Dciua (20° S., 21° 15' E.), Chawe
Pan, near Tshane, 45km E. of Sekhuma Pan, Kuki/M aka l a m a b e d i ,
Sukwane, 16km N. of Nata; Rhodesia: Deka, Tshabem a (W ankie),
Fishan (Sabi/Lundi confl.); Zambia: 56km W . of Nangweshi; Trans
vaal: N ewington; Swaziland: B i g B e n d ; northern Cape: K u r u m a n ) . Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated .) Publisher granted by the under licence Sabinet Gateway Reproduced by by P . A . Clancey 2 2 7
Range: North-east and east of last in southern Angola, Et o s h a
Pan region, Ovam boland and north-east of South W est A f r i c a ,
Caprivi Strip, Botsw ana (except south-w est), northe rn Cape east of
last, south-western and southern Zam bia, Rhodesia, T r a n s v a a l
north of the highveld, southern M o 9am bique, eastern Swaziland,
and eastern Zululand, south to U m folozi.
Remarks: Dull earthen or stone-coloured ground to upper-par t s
distinguishes present race.
For the loan of m aterial to augm ent that already in the Durban
Museum I am indebted to Mr. M. P. Stuart Irwin, Dir ector of the
National Museum of Rhodesia, Bulawayo, and Dr. A. C . K e m p ,
O rnithologist of the Transvaal M useum , Pretoria.
M AP I Sketch-map showing the ranges of the two subspecies of the Redcrested Korhaan Left: Eupodotis ( Lophotis) ruficrista ochrofacies Clancey Right: Eupodotis ( Lophotis) ruficrista ruficrista (Smith) Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated .) Publisher granted by the under licence Sabinet Gateway Reproduced by