WFSC team discovers three new species of African forest robins in the genus Stiphrornis!

The paper describing these new species has been published online in Systematics and Biodiversity (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772000.2016.1226978).  The three species are named Stiphrornis inexpectatus, the Ghana Forest Robin; Stiphrornis dahomeyensis, the Dahomey Forest Robin, and Stiphrornis rudderi, Rudder’s Forest Robin.  The latter, Rudder’s Forest Robin, is named in honor of James Earl Rudder, former president of Texas A&M University. The type specimens for dahomeyensis and rudderi (pictured below) are housed in the Collection of Birds at the BRTC. This discovery provides additional evidence that a substantial amount of cryptic diversity exists in Afrotropical forests, which are in need of further study.

Rudder’s Forest Robin (Stiphrornis rudderi).

Dahomey Forest Robin (Stiphrornis dahomeyensis).