East Coast Akalat
Sheppardia gunningi Haagner, 1909
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The east coast akalat or Gunning's robin (Sheppardia gunningi) is a small passerine bird which can be found in the east of Africa from Kenya to Mozambique, and is named after J. W. B. Gunning.
This species is a forest-dwelling insectivorous bird related to the small Old World flycatchers commonly known as chats; like these, it was formerly placed with the thrushes (Turdidae).
The east coast akalat is affected by habitat loss. Having turned out to be more common than previously believed, it is downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in the 2007 IUCN Red List.
Wikipedia contributors, East coast akalat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:09:06.560090+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sheppardia gunningi Haagner, 1909
- Name authority
- Haagner, 1909
- Common name
- East Coast Akalat
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Sheppardia
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMuscicapidae Fleming, 1822
- genusSheppardia Haagner, 1909
- speciesSheppardia gunningi Haagner, 1909
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sheppardia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Bocage's RobinSheppardia bocagei (Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gabela AkalatSheppardia gabela (Rand, 1957) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sharpe's AkalatSheppardia sharpei (Shelley, 1903) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sheppardia aurantiithorax Beresford, Fjeldsa & Kiure, 2004 | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lowland AkalatSheppardia cyornithopsis (Sharpe, 1901) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Iringa AkalatSheppardia lowei (Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1941) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Usambara AkalatSheppardia montana (Reichenow, 1907) | MuscicapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=562987 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4X4FK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.