| Akalats | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Sheppardia Haagner, 1909 |
| Type species | |
| Sheppardia gunningi[1] Haagner, 1909 | |
| Species | |
See text. | |
Theakalats (stressed on the second syllable)[2] are medium-sizedinsectivorousbirds in thegenusSheppardia. They were formerly placed in thethrushfamily, Turdidae, but are more often now treated as part of theOld World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.
The genus contains 11Sub-Saharanforest-dwellingspecies:[3]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | Usambara akalat | Sheppardia montana | Usambara Mountains |
| - | Iringa akalat | Sheppardia lowei | Eastern Arc forests |
| - | Rubeho akalat | Sheppardia aurantiithorax | Rubeho Mountains |
| - | East coast akalat | Sheppardia gunningi | Nguu Mountains and eastern Afromontane |
| - | Sharpe's akalat | Sheppardia sharpei | Eastern Arc forests and northern Malawi |
| - | Bocage's akalat | Sheppardia bocagei | miombo region |
| - | Short-tailed akalat | Sheppardia poensis | Western High Plateau andAlbertine Rift montane forests |
| - | Lowland akalat | Sheppardia cyornithopsis | African tropical rainforest |
.jpg) | Equatorial akalat | Sheppardia aequatorialis | eastern Afromontane |
 | Gabela akalat | Sheppardia gabela | western Angola |
 | Grey-winged robin-chat | Sheppardia polioptera | Sub-Saharan Africa (rare in eastern and southern Africa) |
ThegenusSheppardia was introduced in 1909 by the South African ornithologistAlwin Karl Haagner with theEast coast akalat (Sheppardia gunningi) as thetype species.[4] The name of the genus was chosen to honour the collector and farmer P. A. Sheppard.[4][5][6]
Richard Bowdler Sharpe, who had never visited Africa, associated the akalats, in theirBulu appellation, with birds of "different kinds" occurring in theforest understorey.[7] His main collector in West Africa, George L. Bates, denoted them more specifically as "little members of the genusTurdinus, which are called inFang and Bulu "Akalat"....".[8] The latter genus denoted a group ofOld World babblers, currently classed as near-babblers in the genusIlladopsis.
David Armitage Bannerman's volumes on West African birds, published from 1930 through to 1951, became well-established reference works for the region, and retained the name akalat forTrichastoma, which isIlladopsis. Reichenow however classedTurdinus batesi as anAlethe,[9] then in theTurdidae (thrushes and flycatchers), followed by Jackson and Sclater in 1938 who applied it toSheppardia specifically.[10] Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1953, 1955) and Williams (1963 - 1980s) retained their usage. In 1964 the name was still recorded as denoting both groups, namely theMalococincla, i.e.Illadopsis near-babblers in West Africa, and theSheppardia chats in East African literature,[11] though the latter convention prevailed in modern times.
Yet the calls of the aforementioned species only doubtfully agree with the akalat's appellation as an omen of death. It is recorded that the akalat's forest song, respectively referred to as "boofio" and "woofio" by theBulu andNtumu peoples, is believed by them to predict the death of a near parent who bids them farewell with this song.[12]