Brass star
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Brass Star Star ( Lamprotornis chloropterus ) |
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| Lamprotornis chloropterus | ||||||||||||
| Swainson , 1838 |
The brass star ( Lamprotornis chloropterus ) is an endemic species of bird that is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and consists of the two subspecies Lamprotornis chloropterus chloropterus and Lamprotornis chloropterus elisabeth . The brass star lives in a wide range from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the east of Africa and further south to Zimbabwe. Overall, the data situation is thin and opaque, even for a starling , as this species can easily be confused with the green-tailed glossy star ( Lamprotornis chalybaeus ) in the wild . The brass star feeds on insects, fruits, seeds and nectar and lives in open savannahs with trees, thorn bush savannahs and farmland.
Etymology and history of research
The term “Lamprotornis” is derived from the Greek words “lamprotēs, lampros λαμπροτης, λαμπρος ” for “splendor, radiant” and “ornis όρνις ” for “bird”. The term “chloropterus” is made up of the Latin words “chlorum” for “green” and “optera” for “wing, wing”. Richard Bowdler Sharpe described the brass star under the name Lamprocolius chloropterus . In 1820 Coenraad Jacob Temminck led the genus Lamprotornis u. a. for the red shoulder gloss star ( Lamprotornis nitens ( Linnaeus , 1766)), to which the brass gloss star was later assigned.
There is still no consensus in science as to whether L. c. chloropterus and L. c. Elisabeth is about subspecies or separate species and therefore requires further research. The species is further described here with the subspecies.
features
Physique and plumage
The brass starling ( Lamprotornis chloropterus ) is a 18–20 cm large species of bird from the family of the actual glossy starlings with a weight of 52 to 86 grams and a wingspan of about 27 cm and is one of the small species of starlings. The plumage gets its play of colors from so-called structure feathers, which create their colors only through light refraction and without pigments . The special shine is caused by the melanosomes embedded in the structure of the feathers in the melanocytes , which are under a keratin film . The special feature of these melanosomes are their platelet-like and hollow shape. The platelets are layered once and / or multiple times and are arranged in a uniform or alternating manner in their order. The brass star (Lamprotornis chloropterus) is difficult to distinguish from the green-tailed star ( Lamprotornis chalybaeus ) in the wild , especially since both species often occur together in swarms. In terms of stature, he looks more compact than the glossy green-tailed star. His somewhat rounder head and neck are slightly greenish glossy, the sides of the neck and throat with a tendency to a somewhat bluish shade of green that merges into the shoulders and continues shiny on the back. Its slightly shorter tail is greenish from above and dark brown from below. The reins between the beak and the eye appear anthracite - black with a purple-blue tinge and the ear covers purple-blue. This area, known as the “mask”, has clear edges. The upper chest is again in slightly greener tones that merge into a shiny blue on the stomach, rump and thigh. The flanks have a slightly magenta-colored section, similar to the Lamprotornis chalybaeus sycobius . The umbrella feathers are in a metallic, shiny bluish green, which continues over the middle wing feathers in a shiny green and with the inner smaller feathers takes on a purple-blue tone. The wings have two rows of dark spots, whereby the first row is often only faintly visible. The black beak is narrower than that of L. chalybaeus and the legs are black.
eyes
The irises of the eyes are yellow to orange-yellow. Like most bird species, apart from the nocturnal birds, the brass starlings see their environment differently than we humans. In contrast to humans, the star has four and not just three types of photoreceptors (also called photoreceptors ) on the retina for color vision . In addition to the thinner rod-shaped receptors responsible for black and white vision, four cone-shaped receptor types are responsible for perception in starlings (tetrachromatic vision). Three of the four cone-shaped receptor types are responsible for the area of light that is visible to humans (trichromatic vision), which make the three primary colors red, green and blue visible. The fourth receptor is responsible for the perception in the area of ultraviolet light , which is not visible to humans. The incidence of light stimulates the various types of receptors within the strongly folded membranes, which are provided with different colored oil droplets, with different intensities. The responsible receptors react more or less strongly to the different wavelengths of light, so that the different colors and hues are perceived. The additional UV receptor compared to humans allows starlings to perceive our environment in a much more differentiated or different way. With the help of the UV receptors, the star is able to better and more easily recognize differences in other conspecifics, the degree of ripeness of the fruit or traces that we cannot see.
Vocalizations
Its sounds often sound very similar to that of the glossy green-tailed starling, but it does not make any nasal sounds like this one. The sounds are similar to a dry chirp, mixed with a few more fluid sounding sounds that are mostly high and shrill.
Juvenile
The juveniles of the nominate form L. c. chloropterus are brown from above and the tips of the feathers are shiny green. Their wings and tail are designed like the adult brass star, but in a less shiny bronze - green. The reins and the ear covers are a darker brown. The dots on the wings are less black. In Lamprotornis chloropterus elisabeth , the overall color is darker and more yellow-brown.
Habitat and Distribution
The brass starfish ( Lamprotornis chloropterus ) is an endemic species in tropical Africa south of the Sahara, which divides into the two subspecies L. c. chloropterus and L. c. Elisabeth divided.
Lamprotornis chloropterus chloropterus: Its approx. 4,090,000 km² distribution area extends in a wide band from Senegal , Gambia , Guinea-Bissau , Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west of the continent over the countries Mali , Ivory Coast , Burkina Faso , Ghana , Togo , Benin , North Cameroon , South Chad , Central African Republic , South Sudan to the south of Sudan , the extreme northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Uganda and West Kenya and has further regional distribution in Eritrea and Ethiopia in the east of the continent.
Lamprotornis chloropterus elisabeth: Its distribution area of about 984,000 km² is mainly in the southeast and the center of southern Africa in southern Kenya , Tanzania , Zambia , Zimbabwe and in the regions Zambezi and Kavango-East in the extreme northeast of Namibia , the so-called Caprivi Strip or Caprivi Strip .
In some parts the distribution areas of the brass starling ( Lamprotornis chloropterus ) overlap with those of the green-tailed starling ( Lamprotornis chalybaeus ). Overall, however, the band is a little further south.
The Lamprotornis chloropterus is considered a resident species and lives mainly in lightly forested savannas, bushland and farmland in the northern tropics. Outside of the breeding season it migrates in the regions and is also increasingly found in the more southern tropics, where it occurs in almost all deciduous forests, especially in forests with trees of the genus Brachystegia . It lives from the lowlands up to the highlands up to 1700 m (Malawi) and is usually found as a pair during the breeding season, otherwise usually in smaller groups of 10–20 specimens, but occasionally also in larger flocks of up to 1200 starlings. The swarms are usually composed of several starling species , such as the Lamprotornis chalybaeus , the Lamprotornis purpureus or the Cinnyricinclus leucogaster . Overall, the data situation can be regarded as poor.
Way of life and behavior
nutrition
The brass Glanzstar feeds on fruits and nectar of plants of the family (Malvaceae) as the subfamily Malvoideae, the trees of the genus bombax in the subfamily of bombacoideae (Bombacoideae) and Sterculia quinqueloba of the subfamily of Stinkbaumgewächse (Sterculioideae). The fruits of the Natal fig ( Ficus natalensis ), Michelia campaca, a magnolia plant originally from South and Southeast Asia, and the neem tree ( Azadirachta indica ) from the mahogany family (Meliaceae) are also part of his nutritional program. The Niembau is considered the natural pharmacy of many bird species, as it contains many healing and health-promoting ingredients. It also eats seeds and insects such as termites (Isoptera) and beetles (Coleoptera), but also locusts (Orthoptera) and worms (Lepidoptera).
Reproduction
The brass star is considered a monogamous species that builds its nests in a disorderly manner from grass, straw and leaves with a dome-like roof or in cavities in trees. It was observed that brooding was also carried out in cave-like crevices. The female lays 2 - 5 blue-greenish, matt-glossy and slightly speckled eggs, which it incubates on its own. The male takes part in the rearing and feeding of the juveniles . It is unclear whether this species can be supported by helpers. Further details on the incubation period and rearing are not currently available.
Danger
In its distribution areas, the brass star is not considered an endangered species. Its population is considered stable. A verification is hardly possible, since a differentiation from other species in the wild is extremely difficult. However, since the distribution areas are extremely large, it is classified by the IUCN as not endangered (least concern).
Systematics
The brass gloss star is related to six other species, within one of the four crown groups of the genus actual gloss star ( Lamprotornis ). The sister species of the wedge-tailed starling ( Lamprotornis acuticaudus ) is directly related . Together they form the basal clade in this crown group.
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literature
- Charles Hilary Fry , Stuart Keith, Emil K. Urban (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VI: Picathartes to Oxpeckers. Christopher Helm, London 2000, ISBN 978-0-12-137306-1 , pp. 606-607.
- J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, DA Christie: Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-50-7 , p. 750.
- Frederike Woog See and be seen - the color vision of birds. In: Der Falke - Journal for Bird Watchers. 5/2009. ( Schattenblick.de ).
- Rafael Maia, Dustin R. Rubenstein, Matthew D. Shawkey: Key ornamental innovations facilitate diversification in an avian radiation . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 110 , no. 26 , June 25, 2013, pp. 10687-10692 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1220784110 .
- Irby J. Lovette, Dustin R. Rubenstein: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Starlings and Mockingbirds - Congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation. 2007 ( columbia.edu PDF on columbia.edu, 2015).
- GE Hill, KJ McGraw (Ed., 2006): Bird Coloration. Vol. 1: Mechanisms and Measurements; Vol. 2: Function and Evolution .
- AJFK Craig, CJ Feare: Family Sturnidae (Starlings) . In: J. del Hoyo, A. Elliot, DA Christie (Eds.): Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows . Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009, pp. 654-760.
- Birdlife international. - factsheet.
- Birdlife international. - factsheet.
- IUCN Redlist of threatened species.
- James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
- Richard Bowdler Sharpe: Catalog of the Birds in the British Museum . tape 13 . Order of the Trustees, London 1890 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed December 1, 2015]).
- Coenraad Jacob Temminck: Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe; Précédé d'une table alphabétique des Espèces . 2nd Edition. tape 1 . H. Cousin, Paris 1820, OCLC 830703105 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed November 25, 2015] First edition: 1815).
Web links
- xeno-canto: Sound recordings - Lesser Blue-eared Glossy-Starling ( Lamprotornis chloropterus )
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis chloropterus) in the Internet Bird Collection
Individual evidence
- ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 218.
- ↑ Richard Bowdler Sharpe, pp. 178 & 179.
- ^ Coenraad Jacob Temminck, S. LV-LVI.
- ↑ a b c C. Feare; A. Craig 1998: Starlings and Mynas. Christopher Helm, London. ( Birdlife international. - factsheet). Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Charles Hilary Fry, Stuart Keith, Emil K. Urban (eds.): The Birds of Africa. . Volume VI: Picathartes to Oxpeckers . Christopher Helm, London 2000, ISBN 0-12-137306-1 , pp. 606-607 .
- ↑ Rafael Maia, Dustin R. Rubenstein, Matthew D. Shawkey: Key ornamental innovations facilitate diversification in an avian radiation . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 110 , no. 26 , June 25, 2013, pp. 10687-10692 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1220784110 .
- ↑ Frederike Woog See and be seen - color vision of birds. In: Der Falke - Journal for Bird Watchers. 5/2009 ( schattenblick.de ).
- ↑ a b C. Feare; A. Craig 1998: Starlings and Mynas. Christopher Helm, London. ( Birdlife international. - factsheet). Retrieved December 6, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, DA Christie (eds.): Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows . Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-50-7 , pp. 750 .
- ↑ Irby J. Lovette, Dustin R. Rubenstein: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Starlings and Mockingbirds - Congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation. 2007 ( columbia.edu ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. PDF on columbia.edu, 2015). Retrieved March 22, 2015.
