The black bee-eater is a species whose range is pretty much, exclusively restricted to the African rainforest – where it lives on the edge of the forest, and within secondary forests. The only other species of bee eater in this range is black headed bee eater (click here to visit its page)

It grows to 20cm long

• M. g. gularis, which is found from Sierra Leone to southeast Nigeria. It has the forehead blue, and a distinct bright cobalt-blue superciliary stripe.
• M. g. australis, which is found from southeast Nigeria to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, south to northern Angola

It should be noted, that there appears to be an intermediate species between these two.