Arnot’s Chat

Arnot's chat (Myrmecocichla arnotti), also known as the white-headed black-chat, is a species of bird in the chat and flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The species is found in southern Africa from Rwanda and Angola to South Africa. == Taxonomy == Arnot's chat was formally described and illustrated in 1869 as Saxicola arnotti by English clergyman and ornithologist Henry Baker Tristram based upon a specimen collected at the Victoria Falls in modern-day Zimbabwe. Tristram wrote that he named the species after the collector, a Mr. Arnott, but the man was actually named David Arnot. For this reason, it was suggested in 1965 that the name should be spelled arnoti instead. However, since there is no evidence in Tristram's original paper that the name was misspelled, the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature mandate that the spelling arnotti should be maintained. Arnot's chat is now placed in the genus Myrmecocichla that was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. Along with the white-fronted black chat this species is sometimes separated into the genus Pentholaea. Three subspecies are recognised: M. a. arnotti (Tristram, HB, 1869) – eastern Angola and southeastern Tanzania (east of the Eastern Arc Mountains) southward to northern…