Southern yellow white-eye

The southern yellow white-eye (Zosterops anderssoni) is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in parts of southern Africa. It was formerly considered conspecific with the African yellow white-eye.

Southern yellow white-eye
In Kruger National Park, South Africa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Zosterops
Species:	Z. anderssoni
Binomial name
Zosterops anderssoni Shelley, 1892

The southern yellow white-eye was formerly treated as a subspecies of the African yellow white-eye, (renamed the northern yellow white-eye), (Zosterops senegalensis) but it is now considered as a separate species based on the phylogenetic relationships determined in a molecular study in 2013.^[1][2][3]

Three subspecies are recognised:^[3]

• Z. a. anderssoni Shelley, 1892 – east and south Angola and north Namibia to southwest Tanzania, west Mozambique and north South Africa
• Z. a. tongensis Roberts, 1931 – southeast Zimbabwe, south Mozambique and northeast South Africa
• Z. a. stierlingi Reichenow, 1899 – east and south Tanzania, east Zambia, Malawi and north Mozambique

Its diet consists of insects, fruits, seeds, and grains.^[4]

References

1. Cox, S.C. (2013). Molecular Systematics and Diversification of African Zosteropidae (Aves: Passeriformes) (PhD). University College London.
2. Pearson, D.J.; Turner, D.A. (2017). "A taxonomic review of the genus Zosterops in East Africa, with a revised list of species occurring in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania". Scopus. 37: 1–13.
3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
4. Ojija, Fredrick; Manyanza, Ndaki Marco (2022-03-07). "Community Structure, Conservation Status, and Functional Groups of Bird Species in Mbeya Range Forests, Tanzania". Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences. 18: 33–46. doi:10.29169/1927-5129.2022.18.05. ISSN 1927-5129.