{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | name = Dark batis | image = Batis crypta - desertnaturalist - 443213971.jpeg | image_caption = | image2 = | image2_caption = Female at Mufindi, Tanzania | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2017 |title=''Batis crypta'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T22734421A118746565 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22734421A118746565.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Batis crypta | authority = Fjeldså, Bowie & Kiure, 2006 }}
The '''dark batis''' ('''''Batis crypta''''') is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus ''Batis'' in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae. It is found in highland forest in south-west Tanzania, northern Malawi, and northern Mozambique. These birds were formerly thought to be forest batises (''B. mixta'') but in 2006 were described as a new species based on differences in morphology and mitochondrial DNA from those birds in northern Tanzania and Kenya.
==Description== The dark batis is about {{cvt|10|cm}} in length and weighs {{cvt|10|-|15|g}}. It has a dark bill and legs and red eyes. The male is white below with a broad black breastband. Above it has a dark grey crown, grey back with some black feather-tips, a black face-mask and black wings with a white stripe. The female has a greyish crown, brownish back, dark mask, slight white supercilium and a narrow rufous stripe on the wing. Below it has a rufous chin-spot and breast with whitish tips to some of the feathers.<ref name = Fjeldså>{{cite journal | last1 = Fjeldså | first1 = Jon | last2 = Bowie | first2 = Rauri C. K. | last3 = Kiure | first3 = Jacob | year = 2006 | title = The forest batis, ''Batis mixta'', is two species: description of a new, narrowly distributed ''Batis'' species in the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot | url = http://www.zmuc.dk/VerWeb/Tanzanian_Vertebrates/Bird/Bird_type/Batis_crypta_95.264/95.264_Batis_crypta.pdf | journal = Journal of Ornithology | volume = 147 | issue = 4 | pages = 578–590 | doi = 10.1007/s10336-006-0082-4 | bibcode = 2006JOrni.147..578F | s2cid = 31793603 | access-date = 2008-02-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110517175734/http://www.zmuc.dk/VerWeb/Tanzanian_Vertebrates/Bird/Bird_type/Batis_crypta_95.264/95.264_Batis_crypta.pdf | archive-date = 2011-05-17 }}</ref>
The forest batis has a slightly shorter tail. Males of the two species are very similar but forest batises have a narrower breastband and usually some hint of a white supercilium which is lacking in the male dark batis. The females are more distinctive: female forest batises have a paler breast and chin with more white tips giving a mottled appearance. There is a conspicuous white supercilium and a broad rufous wing-stripe.<ref name = Fjeldså/>
The dark batis has a variety of whistling and harsh churring calls and its wings make a whirring sound in flight. The male's song is a series of short, low whistles.<ref name = Fjeldså/>
==Distribution and habitat== It is found in the Eastern Arc Mountains of East Africa from the Ukaguru Mountains and Uluguru Mountains of central Tanzania south-westwards as far as the Misuku Hills in northernmost Malawi and the Njesi Highlands in northern Mozambique.<ref name = HBW>{{cite journal | url = http://www.hbw.com/species/dark-batis-batis-crypta | title = Dark Batis (''Batis crypta'') | access-date = 2016-11-04 | publisher = Lynx Edicions|journal = Handbook of Birds of the World Alive| year = 2020 | doi = 10.2173/bow.darbat1.01 | last1 = Louette | first1 = Michel | s2cid = 216365153 | editor-first1 = Josep | editor-first2 = Andrew | editor-first3 = Jordi | editor-first4 = David | editor-first5 = Eduardo | editor-last1 = Del Hoyo | editor-last2 = Elliott | editor-last3 = Sargatal | editor-last4 = Christie | editor-last5 = De Juana | url-access = subscription }}</ref><ref>Samuel EI Jones, Gabriel A Jamie, Emidio Sumbane & Merlijn Jocque (2020) The avifauna, conservation and biogeography of the Njesi Highlands in northern Mozambique, with a review of the country's Afromontane birdlife, Ostrich, 91:1, 45-56, DOI: 10.2989/00306525.2019.1675795</ref>
It inhabits evergreen forest from {{Convert|540 to 2140|m|ft|abbr=}} above sea-level and is most common around {{Convert|1500|m|ft}}. It forages mainly in the lower and middle levels of trees, feeding on insects such as termites.<ref name = Shrikes>{{cite book | last1 = Harris | first1 = Tony | last2 = Franklin | first2 = Kim | year = 2000 | title = Shrikes and Bush-shrikes | publisher = Christopher Helm | pages = 300–301 | isbn = 0-7136-3861-3}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *BirdLife International (2008) [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=32307&m=0 Species factsheet: ''Batis crypta''.]{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Accessed 26 May 2008.
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110528223700/http://130.225.211.158/SubsaharanAfrica/FMPro?-Db=Subsaharan.fp5&-Format=mapping.htm&-Lay=www&TaxonShort=Batiscrypta&-Max=All&-Find Distribution map] *Tanzania Bird Atlas: **[http://tanzaniabirdatlas.com/Members/Lahansen/louis_bird_pics/platysteirdae-wattle-eyes-and-batis/Batis-crypta-male.JPG/view Photograph of a male] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716192112/http://tanzaniabirdatlas.com/Members/Lahansen/louis_bird_pics/platysteirdae-wattle-eyes-and-batis/Batis-crypta-male.JPG/view |date=2011-07-16 }} **[http://tanzaniabirdatlas.com/Members/Lahansen/louis_bird_pics/platysteirdae-wattle-eyes-and-batis/B_crypta-female_side_breast_view.JPG/view Photograph of a female] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716192613/http://tanzaniabirdatlas.com/Members/Lahansen/louis_bird_pics/platysteirdae-wattle-eyes-and-batis/B_crypta-female_side_breast_view.JPG/view |date=2011-07-16 }}
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dark batis Category:Eastern Afromontane endemic bird species dark batis