The split of Somali Ostrich is primarily based on geographical, morphological, and genetic evidence.

Somali Ostrich     Struthio molybdophanes
Reichenow   1883
Somalia; s Ethiopia; se Sudan; ne Kenya: s to Tsavo East NP
split from: Struthio camelus
insert after: Struthio camelus
S. Freitag & T.J. Robinson,
Phylogeographic Patterns in Mitochondrial DNA of the Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
The Auk 110, 3 (1993): 614-622