Mevesglanzstar
| Mevesglanzstar | ||||||||||||
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Mevesglanzstar ( Lamprotornis mevesii ) |
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| Lamprotornis mevesii | ||||||||||||
| ( Wahlberg , 1856) |
The Mevesglanzstar ( Lamprotornis mevesii ) from the genus of the actual glossy starlings ( Lamprotornis ) is a passerine bird from the family of starlings (Sturnidae) widespread in southern Africa . Its very shiny iridescent plumage and the long, stepped tail, which makes up about 40 percent of the body's length, are its most striking features. He lives in two in the allopatricMeaning clearly delimited areas from north-west Namibia to north-east South Africa. The species prefers thinly forested areas along river valleys and feeds on various insects and fruits. The Mevesglanzstar is divided into three subspecies.
features
Physique and plumage
The adult Mevesglanzstar has a size of about 30 cm and is one of the larger glossy stars. It weighs between 56 and 77 g. The plumage on the upper side has uniformly strong iridescent metallic shimmering colors. It has so-called structure feathers, which produce their colors without pigments by refraction. The special shine is caused by the melanosomes embedded in the structure of the feathers, which are located under a layer of keratin. The special feature of these melanosomes are their platelet-like and hollow shape. The platelets are simple, multilayered or arranged alternately (alternately). The head plumage, nape and sides of the neck are blue-green with some drowning purple tones. The ear covers are dark to black in color, often with a slight purple or blue-green sheen. The back is usually held in purple tones. The wings and tail-coverts, also known as the mantle, are also in shiny blue-green and purple colors. The wings are rounded at the ends. This makes it easier to differentiate Lamprotornis mevesii from Lamprotornis australis . The tail feathers are darkly banded and heavily tiered, with the central tail feathers around 60 percent longer than the outermost. The rump is bronze. Legs and beak are black. The young birds have a matt black underside. The color scheme is different due to the three subspecies of the Mevesglanzstar. So come Lamprotornis mevesii violacior present in clearly more pronounced violet tones. In Lamprotornis mevesii benguelensis , size and structure correspond to the other two subspecies. However, its plumage is apparently different. The colors in the head area are significantly more bronze-greenish, as is the rump with its purple border, whereas the shoulder area and tail are more copper-colored. The chin and chest are in shades of purple.
eyes
The iris of the eyes is dark brown. Like most bird species, except for the nocturnal birds, the Mevesglanzstare 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
The kind of singing sounds like a high-pitched, croaking “eirrrr-eirrrr-eirrrr”, when there is an alarm it is a hard “zsac”.
Habitat and Distribution
The Mevesglanzstar prefers areas in river valleys that are seasonally flooded and have isolated standing trees, or open wooded areas in higher-lying, well-arranged regions with sandy soil and little vegetation. His favorite trees are the Mopane ( Colosphermum mopane ), the Baobab ( Adansonia digitata ), the faidherbia albida ( Faidherbia albida ), the ancestral tree ( Combretum imberbe ) and acacia Vachellia xanthophloea and vachellia tortilis .
The distribution area is essentially divided into two areas in southern Africa: A smaller area is located in the border area between southwestern Angola and northwestern Namibia . The larger of the areas extends from the Okavango Delta in northeastern Namibia through northern Botswana , Zambia and Zimbabwe along the Zambezi and many other river valleys to western Malawi and eastern Botswana, in parts of western Mozambique to northeastern South Africa ( northern Limpopo ), where it occurs regionally.
Way of life
The Mevesglanzstar feeds mainly on insects living on the ground such as beetles (Coleoptera), termites (Isoptera), ants (Formicidae), mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae) and leaf fleas (Psylloidea). When looking for insects, he likes to follow large animals like the African elephant to catch insects that have been startled by them. Its diet is supplemented by ripe fruits and flowers, including those of the ana tree and jackalberry ( Diospyros mespiliformis ).
The sociable bird occurs both as a pair and in small groups, as well as outside of the breeding season in larger flocks of up to 150 birds. He can often be found with other star stars. When he is not looking for food on the ground, he likes to sit in the large, shady trees on the lower branches. A special feature is that Mevesglanzstare in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe also seek communal sleeping places in thorn bushes.
Reproduction
The bowl-shaped nest is only built by the female and consists of fibers and twigs, often on loose and rotten wood. The presumably monogamous Mevesglanzstar usually creates this in natural tree hollows, usually between 1 and 4 meters high. However, anthropogenic nesting sites such as fence posts or ventilation shafts are also used. The nests are usually used over several years.
The breeding seasons vary greatly depending on the region, between November and April, when the Mevesglanzstar lays three to five eggs, which are incubated by the female for about 18 days. The juveniles are fed by both parents and by other helpers who are not breeding at the time. and leave the nest after about 23 days. They stay with their parents for a few more weeks and breed for the first time after about 11 months.
Larger birds of prey are considered enemies of the Mevesglanzstar. There are also reports of several breeding parasites that the Mevesglanzstare use as adoptive parents. The Great Honey Indicator ( Indicator indicator ) as well as the Common Cuckoo ( Clamator glandarius ) are said to use the starlings as host parents.
Existence and endangerment
There is no reliable information on the size of the world population, but the species is considered common in most of its range and the population as stable. The Mevesglanzstar is therefore classified by the IUCN as safe (“least concern”). The destruction of the tree population by elephants is seen as a potential threat to these and other species as the trees serve as breeding grounds.
Systematics
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The Mevesglanzstar stands within the genus Actual glossy starlings ( Lamprotornis ) in a direct family group with four other species, all of which have very long and finely banded tails. According to DNA analyzes, the sister species of the Mevesglanzstars is the gray-glossy star ( Lamprotornis unicolor ), which is more closely related to it than the externally very similar long-tailed and tail-glossy starlings .
The Mevesglanzstar is divided into three subspecies :
- Lamprotornis mevesii mevesii ( Wahlberg, 1856 ) - South Angola, North Namibia, North Botswana, South and East Zambia, South Malawi, lowlands Zimbabwe, West and South West Mozambique and the extreme northeast of South Africa ( North Limpopo ).
- Lamprotornis mevesii violacior Clancey, 1973 - Northwest Namibia and Southwest Angola;
- Lamprotornis mevesii benguelensis Shelley, 1906 - Southwest Angola
Johan August Wahlberg (1810–1856) dedicated his descriptions of the Mevesglanzstar in 1856 to the ornithologist and pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Meves under the protonym " Juida mevesii ".
literature
- A. Craig, C. Feare: Meves long tailed starling (Lamprotornis mevesii). In: J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, DA Christie, E. de Juana: (2014). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona ( online ). Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- Charles Hilary Fry , Stuart Keith , Emil K. Urban (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VI: Picathartes to Oxpeckers. Christopher Helm, London 2000, ISBN 978-01-21373-06-1 , p. 616.
- PAR Hockey, WRJ Dean, PG Ryan: Roberts - Birds of southern Africa. VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town 2005. ( online ) Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- IJ Lovette, DR Rubenstein: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Starlings. (Aves: Sturnidae) and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae) Congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation. Columbia University press article. ( online, PDF ( Memento from June 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )) Retrieved on March 22, 2015.
- IUCN Red list of threatened species. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
- Rafael Maia, Dustin R. Rubenstein and Matthew D. Shawkey in: "Key ornamental innovations facilitate diversification in an avian radiation". Biological Sciences - Evolution: PNAS 2013 110 (26) 10687-10692; published ahead of print 10 June 2013, doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1220784110 . Full text . Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- Frederike Woog Seeing and being seen - color vision of birds in: Der Falke - Journal für Vogelbeobachter 5/2009. ( [3] . Retrieved on July 11, 2015.)
- GE Hill & KJ McGraw (Eds, 2006): Bird Coloration. Vol. 1: Mechanisms and Measurements; Vol. 2: Function and Evolution .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d A. Craig, C. Feare: Meves long tailed starling (Lamprotornis mevesii). In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ↑ Rafael Maia, Dustin R. Rubenstein and Matthew D. Shawkey in: Key ornamental innovations facilitate diversification in an avian radiation ; Biological Sciences - Evolution: PNAS 2013 110 (26) 10687-10692. [1]
- ↑ a b c d e 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. 616 . .
- ↑ Frederike Woog Seeing and being seen - color vision of birds in: Der Falke - Journal für Vogelbeobachter 5/2009. [2]
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Roberts - Birds of southern Africa. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ↑ IUCN Red list of threatened species. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
- ↑ Irby J. Lovette, Dustin R. Rubenstein 2007: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Starlings and Mockingbirds - Congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation. ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on columbia.edu, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Lamprotornis mevesii in the Internet Bird Collection