Kingdom Animalia Class Aves Family Macrosphenidae Rank Subspecies | Phylum Chordata Order Passeriformes Genus Sylvietta | |
Similar Bird, White‑browed crombec, Crombec, Passerine, Red‑capped crombec | ||
The Chapin's crombec (Sylvietta leucophrys chapini) is an enigmatic African warbler, formerly placed in the family Sylviidae. It is currently considered a subspecies of the white-browed crombec, but might be a distinct species; too little is known about it to determine this now with reasonable certainty.
It is found only on the Lendu Plateau, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was removed from the IUCN Red List in 2007 as it is considered a white-browed crombec subspecies, pending further research. It was previously considered a species of least concern, though actually it has not been encountered for some time, and might even be extinct. However, this is not very likely given the fairly low rates of bird extinctions in Africa - compared to, e.g., South America and Southeast Asia. In any case, the Second Congo War, and especially the Ituri conflict, have completely prevented any effort to relocate these birds.
The common name commemorates the American ornithologist James Paul Chapin.