Somali Boubou - Bulo Burti Boubou

Bulo Burti Boubou

The "Bulo Burti Boubou", formerly recognized as a distinct species, Laniarius liberatus, was only known from one individual trapped in 1988 in central Somalia, 140 km inland in Hiiraan gobolka (region) near Buuloburde (Buulobarde, Bulo Burti) on the Shebelle River, and was described using blood and feather samples to provide a DNA sequence. Apparently for the first time for a modern bird description, no specimen (either the bird or a part of it) was kept as a type; the bird was released back into the wild in 1990 because the scientists who caught it felt that the species was very rare. The blood and feather samples were destroyed in the process of sequencing. The epithet liberatus ("the liberated one") was given because of this. It was not found during searches in 1989 and 1990. It resembles the Red-naped Bushshrike L. ruficeps but has no red nape, is black, not grey, on the mantle, and is washed buffy-yellow on throat and breast.

This presumed species was considered critically endangered by Birdlife International.

In 2008, a new review of the molecular sequence data revealed the identity of the Bulo Burti Boubou as a colour morph of Laniarius erlangeri (traditionally considered a subspecies of L. aethiopicus, but recommended for species status in the same study). Following the 2008 study the International Ornithological Committee recognized L. erlangeri as distinct species and put L. liberatus into the synonymity of L. erlangeri. So did BirdLife International which removed L. liberatus from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Birds 2009.