Red-fronted Barbet (Tricholaema diademata massaica) - 13 July 2013. Kopje picnic area, Serengeti National Park, Mara Region, Tanzania.



These East African endemic barbets seemed rather scarce and we encountered them only a few times. Some authors lump this bird with the Miombo Barbet (T. frontata) and the Pied Barbet (T. leucomelas) of Southern Africa. The three form a superspecies. Tanzania birds are assigned T. d. massaica in which the flanks and belly are yellowish with spots and streaks as seen here, unlike the nominate race to the north which has only a few spots on its flanks.

All the barbets were formerly (e.g. HBW) classified in the family Capitonidae. However recent studies have found that they are paraphyletic with respect to the New World Toucans, resulting in an invalid clade unless the Toucans are included. For this reason, most recent authors (e.g. Clements) prefer to divide the former Capitonidae into four separate families, Lybiidae (African Barbets), Megalaimidae (Asian Barbets), Semnornithidae (Toucan-Barbets), and Capitonidae (restricted now to New World Barbets).

Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).
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