NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Common Purple-banded Sunbird
Cinnyris bifasciatus (Shaw, 1812)
Source-backed taxonomic record
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 purple-banded sunbird (Cinnyris bifasciatus) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae.
It is found in Angola, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Tsavo sunbird, sometimes lumped with the purple-banded, is here considered a separate species.
Wikipedia contributors, Purple-banded sunbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:04:21.937702+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cinnyris bifasciatus (Shaw, 1812)
- Name authority
- (Shaw, 1812)
- Common name
- Common Purple-banded Sunbird
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Cinnyris
- 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
- familyNectariniidae Vigors, 1825
- genusCinnyris Cuvier, 1816
- speciesCinnyris bifasciatus (Shaw, 1812)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Cinnyris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Cinnyris humbloti Milne-Edwards & Oustalet, 1885 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris lotenius (Linnaeus, 1766) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris manoensis Reichenow, 1907 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris congensis (Oort, 1910) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris sovimanga (Gmelin, 1788) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris usambaricus Grote, 1922 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris minullus Reichenow, 1899 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris neergaardi Grant, 1908 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris afer (Linnaeus, 1766) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Southern Double-collared SunbirdCinnyris chalybeus (Linnaeus, 1766) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Splendid SunbirdCinnyris coccinigastrus (Latham, 1802) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris johannae J. Verreaux & E. Verreaux, 1851 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Nectarinia bifasciata (Shaw, 1812) (Shaw, 1812) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=916442 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:5YV67. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.