Asian bearded birds

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asian bearded birds
Blue-cheeked bearded bird (Megalaima asiatica)

Blue-cheeked bearded bird ( Megalaima asiatica )

Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
Subordination : Specht-like (Picoidea)
Family : Asian bearded birds
Scientific name
Megalaimidae
Sibley & Ahlquist , 1985

The Asiatic Bearded Birds (Megalaimidae) are a family of woodpeckers found in Asia on the Indian subcontinent, in southern China, in mainland Southeast Asia, on the Great Sunda Islands with the exception of Sulawesi and the Philippines .

features

Asian bearded birds have a greenish or brownish-olive basic color. The heads of the green-bearded birds are usually set off in color from the trunk and show a striking bright color. The birds become 15 to 33 centimeters long. The trunk is short, the neck short and thick, and the head can be relatively large in relation to the body. The beak is large and heavy and often has a saw on the edges. In most species stiff bristles arise from the base of the beak. The wings are medium-long and rounded, the tail is medium-long and angular at the end. As with the woodpeckers , the first and fourth toes point backwards, the second and third forwards (zygodactyl toe arrangement). The genders hardly differ externally. Asian bearded birds make loud, cuckoo-like calls.

Way of life and reproduction

Asiatic bearded birds live primarily in forests, in both primary and secondary forests, and in both lowland and mountain forests. Some species also colonize forest edges, bushland, gardens or other landscapes that have been remodeled by humans. They prefer to eat fruits, especially figs, as well as insects, other invertebrates and small vertebrates, e.g. B. frogs. Since they do not digest the seeds of the ingested fruits, they play an important role as propagators of plant seeds.

Most Asian bearded birds are monogamous and both parents participate in the breeding business, in rearing the young birds and in keeping the nest clean, often supported by young birds from previous broods. All Asian bearded birds are cave breeders . The caves are carved into the soft wood of dead trees or dug into termite structures. The clutch size varies between one and six eggs. The eggs are incubated for about two weeks or a little longer. The young bearded birds fledge after five or six weeks.

Systematics

All Asian bearded birds originally belonged together with the African and South American bearded birds to a uniform bearded bird family , which had the scientific name Capitonidae, which is still valid today for the American bearded birds . According to DNA hybridization studies by the American ornithologists and molecular biologists Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist , the bearded birds do not form a monophyletic group without the toucans (Ramphastidae) . Independent families were therefore introduced for the Asian and African bearded birds (Megalaimidae and Lybiidae ). The research of Sibley and Ahlquist was later confirmed by DNA comparisons . The Asian bearded birds are the sister group of a clade that includes all other bearded birds and the toucans (Ramphastidae).

Genera and species

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, Irby J. Lovette: Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2015, ISBN 978-84-941892-0-3 , pp. 245-246.
  2. ^ CG Sibley, JE Ahlquist: The relationships of some groups of African birds, based on comparisons of the genetic material, DNA. Incl. Schuchmann (Ed.): Proceedings of the International Symposium on African Vertebrates, Systematics, Phylogeny and Evolutionary Ecology. Zoological Research Institute and Museum Koenig, Bonn 1985, ISBN 3-925382-00-3 , pp. 115-161.
  3. ↑ Hackett et al .: A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History. In: Science. Volume 320, No. 5884, 2008, pp. 1763-1768, doi: 10.1126 / science.1157704 .