Puna rhea

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Puna rhea
Rhea tarapacensis.jpg

Puna rhea ( Rhea tarapacensis )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Subclass : Great Pine Birds (Palaeognathae)
Order : Rheiformes
Family : Rheas (Rheidae)
Genre : Nandus ( Rhea )
Type : Puna rhea
Scientific name
Rhea tarapacensis
( Chubb , 1913)

The Pune-rhea ( Rhea tarapacensis ) is a ratite from the genus of rheas ( Rhea ). Its habitat is limited to a few areas in eastern Chile , as well as in the south of Bolivia and the north-west of Argentina . The IUCN sees the species as Near Threatened (NT). The Puna rhea is threatened by hunting and collecting eggs for food, as well as habitat loss.

features

The Puna Nandu is a flightless flightless bird that can grow to be between 92 and 100 cm tall and weigh between 15 and 25 kg. The plumage of the males is grayer than that of the Darwin's rhea ( Rhea pennata ) and spotted white on a smaller area on the upper side. In the nominate form , the head and neck are ash gray, the back and shoulder feathers almost entirely reddish brown. The longer feathers sometimes have white tips. In the subspecies Rhea tarapacensis garleppi , the head and upper neck are more yellow-brown and the lower neck dark brown. The area between the shoulders, the interscapular feathers, is more grayish brown. The longer shoulder feathers and the wing coverts often have white tips. The thighs and top of the feet are feathered on the front. Both subspecies have 8 to 10 anterior foot scales.

The call of the Puna-Nandu is described as deep and buzzing.

Habitat and way of life

The puna rhea lives in desert and salt puna , pumice plains, raised bogs and Parastrephia lepidophylla heath in the Altiplano from 3000 to 4500 m altitude down to 2000 m in the eastern part of the distribution area and up to 1220 m in the Argentine province of La Rioja . Despite the large distribution area, little is known about the ecological requirements of the species, especially when it comes to food. The diet of the Puna Nandu consists of leaves, fruits and grass seeds , for example feather grass . Research in the Argentine desert puna showed a completely plant-based diet based primarily on leaves. The lack of other food components such as insects, which are used by rheas as a source of protein and vitamins, could be due to the low availability in the Andean environment at an altitude of over 3000 m. Little is known about breeding either; the breeding business is similar to that of the Darwin rhea.

Subspecies

According to the Handbook of the Birds of the World , two subspecies of the Puna Nandu are provisionally recognized. However, the subspecies are somewhat variable and Rhea tarapacensis garleppi may not be reliably distinguishable.

Taxonomy

The Puna-rhea was first described as Pterocnemia tarapacensis . The position in the genus Pterocnemia was mainly due to the squamation and the feathering of the legs, but genetic studies have revealed a close relationship with Nandu ( Rhea americana ) and the Puna Rhea is probably for this congeneric . For Darwin Nandu ( Rhea pennata ) of the Puna Rhea is also considered conspecific , as a subspecies Rhea pennata tarapacensis or Rhea pennata garleppi viewed. However, the two species differ in several characteristics such as length and scaling of the legs and the color of the plumage. In the province of Mendoza , Argentina, the Puna Nandu seems to intergrade with the Darwin Nandu or to be parapatric to it, but the plumage is variable with age and with different breeding conditions, so that further research is necessary to clarify.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rhea tarapacensis in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2017-3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e J. del Hoyo, N. Collar, EFJ Garcia (2018): Puna Rhea (Rhea tarapacensis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, DA & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ( Online ).
  3. ^ A b Emmet Reid Blake: Manual of Neotropical Birds, Volume 1. 1977, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226056418 , pp. 10-11.
  4. ^ A b Nancy Verónica Marinero, Joaquín L. Navarro, Mónica B. Martella (2017): Does food abundance determine the diet of the Puna Rhea (Rhea tarapacensis) in the Austral Puna desert in Argentina? In: Emu - Austral Ornithology , 117: 2, pp. 199 - 206. doi : 10.1080 / 01584197.2016.1277762 .
  5. ↑ IOC World Bird List Ratites: Ostrich to Tinamous in F. Gill, D. Donsker (Eds). 2018. IOC World Bird List (v8.1).
  6. ^ Nancy Verónica Marinero, Ricardo Omar Cortez, Joaquín Luis Navarro, Mónica Beatriz Martella: Density and abundance of Rhea pennata garleppi (Struthioniformes: Rheidae) in the Puna ecoregion of Argentina. 2014 in: Revista Chilena de Historia Natural . doi : 10.1186 / s40693-014-0017-z .

Web links