Sharpe's Akalat
Sheppardia sharpei (Shelley, 1903)
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
Sharpe's akalat (Sheppardia sharpei) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.
It is found in Tanzania and northern parts of Zambia and Malawi.
Its natural habitats are boreal forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
Sharpe's akalat was described by the English ornithologist George Ernest Shelley in 1903. He coined the binomial name Callene sharpei. Sharpe's akalat is now placed in the genus Sheppardia that was introduced by the South African ornithologist Alwin Karl Haagner in 1909. Both the common name and the specific epithet honour the English ornithologist and museum curator Richard Bowdler Sharpe.
Wikipedia contributors, Sharpe's akalat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:46:28.489435+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sheppardia sharpei (Shelley, 1903)
- Name authority
- (Shelley, 1903)
- Common name
- Sharpe's 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 sharpei (Shelley, 1903)
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 |
| East Coast AkalatSheppardia gunningi Haagner, 1909 | 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=562991 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:4X4FP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.