Purple gloss star
| Purple gloss star | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Purple Starling |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lamprotornis purpureus | ||||||||||||
| ( Statius Müller , 1766) |
The Purple Starling ( Lamprotornis purpureus ) is a bird from the genus lamprotornis within the family of starlings and lives in the south of the Sahelzone situated countries of Western Africa across to Uganda in the east of the continent where he resides mainly, but partly also occurs migrant. It prefers savannah and grassland populated with trees and bushes and can also be found in urban environments. He has a strongly iridescent metallic shimmering plumage in reddish-violet, blue-violet as well as blue and greenish hues. It feeds on various insects as well as seeds and fruits. It is divided into two subspecies.
features
Physique and plumage
The purple star has a size of about 26 cm and a weight of 91-140 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 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 single and / or multi-layered. They can be arranged uniformly in their order or alternating (alternating). The fore head and crown of the adult purple gloss star are held in a shiny purple (reddish-purple) tone and merge into a bluish-purple neck. The sides of the neck and shoulder area are blue-green in color. The back shows a lighter blue and turns into a violet-blue at the rump. The short control springs are purple in the middle (T1 – T3) and on the outside (T4 – T5) they have a bluish note at the tips of the springs. The outer tail-coverts (T6) are bluish-violet with a reddish-violet note on the shaft of the feather. The reins between the eye and beak are black and the ear covers have a purple tinge. From the cheek over the chin, throat and uppermost chest area, the color scheme is purple and merges into a strong medium blue on the chest. On the lower chest, belly and sides it is presented in a purple tone. The lower tail feathers are purple. The wings are blue-green to green-blue and end up in a blue hue. The wings have dark spots. The subspecies Lamprotornis purpureus amethystinus is more blue in the upper areas than the nominate form and the purple colors are more powerful. The purple tones are less pronounced on the underside. The tail of this subspecies is a little longer.
The plumage of the young birds is kept in brown tones on the upper side and the feathers in the shoulder area in shiny green colors. The rump is purple. The head and the underside show sooty-brown hues, while the head cover and chest appear in a light purple sheen. The wings fall out like those of the adult conspecifics, but appear with a matt sheen. The central tail covers are shiny purple and the outer parts of the tail are blue. The beak and legs are black.
eye
The iris and the adjacent sclera of the eye show a yellow hue. The eyes of the juveniles, however, are green-yellow. Like most bird species, except nocturnal birds, the purple starlings see their environment differently than we humans. In contrast to humans, the star has four and not only three types of photoreceptors (also called photoreceptors ) on the retina . 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
He has a collection of different sounds. Often elongated nasal sounds can be heard in different variations.
Habitat and Distribution
The distribution area of the purple star is mainly in the areas bordering south of the Sahel zone from West Africa to Northwest Kenya in the east of the continent. The distribution area has an area of about 3.44 million km². The nominate form Lamprotornis purpureus purpureus lives in Mauritania , Senegal , Gambia , Guinea-Bissau , Mali, Ivory Coast and in Burkina Faso , Ghana , Togo and Benin where it is the most widespread real star, all the way to Niger , Nigeria and Cameroon . The two subspecies live together in Cameroon. From Cameroon via the countries of Chad , the Central African Republic , as well as the north and northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the Mbomou (Bomu) river and Garamba National Park and in the southeast of the country. The distribution area of the second subspecies Lamprotornis purpureus amethystinus lies in South Sudan from the Equatoria region along the White Nile to the south of Sudan as well as to Uganda and Kenya . In Uganda, the distribution areas are typically at altitudes between 600 and 1800 meters above sea level. In Kenya, the spread of the purple star has decreased noticeably.
The preferred habitat are the savannah with trees, bush and bushy grasslands as well as cultural landscapes with trees and parkland in an urban environment. Freshly harvested fields, cotton fields and trees with fruits are part of his habitat.
Way of life
The purple star is a widespread, sociable bird that lives mainly in the savannas and bushland located south of the Sahel . Outside the breeding season, it often appears in larger groups of around 20 birds to forage and feeds mainly on small fruits and seeds such as the kapok tree ( Ceiba pentandra ), the neem tree ( Azadirachta indica ) and other fruits such as stone fruit from the genus Ziziphus . It also feeds on insects such as termites and ants on the ground and sometimes catches other insects while hunting in the air. It is also often seen in trees of the species Ficus lecardii in Nigeria and other Ficus species in Uganda. The young birds are also fed caterpillars. It has also been observed in groups of hundreds and, occasionally, even thousands of starlings. At dusk, the purple star regularly visits watering places such as puddles and pools to drink and bathe.
The sounds of the voice are high-pitched, hoarse, croaking and sometimes squeaky calls that are given at intervals of up to about 30 seconds. Among other things, the sounds sound like djiiip - djiiip - djiiip!
Reproduction
During the breeding season, the purple star appears as a couple and builds its nest in hollowed out tree trunks and stumps. Likewise, these birds also make use of man-made man-made places such as eaves and pipes. They use dry grass, leaves and leaf parts as nesting material, which they build into shallow, cup-shaped nests, usually several meters high.
The females alone incubate the approximately 2.7 × 2.0 cm large, light blue to blue and red-brown spotted 2–3 eggs. The breeding season begins at the end of the dry season until the beginning of the rainy season and is therefore very different from region to region. The breeding seasons are between February / March and June / July. It was observed that a week after the end of brood the nest was regularly repaired by the female with leaf fragments. The young birds are fed by both parents.
Existence and endangerment
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic classification Lamprotornis purpureus |
There is no reliable information on the size of the world population, but the species is considered very common in most of the distribution area and the population is stable. The purple star is classified by the IUCN as not endangered ("least concern").
Systematics
The first description was made by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller and was published under the protonym "Turdus purpureus". Statius Müller was born in 1725 and studied theology and philosophy. He later taught as a universal professor in Erlangen and died in 1776. He wrote various initial descriptions for animals.
The purple star is divided into the two subspecies
- L. p. purpureus ( Statius Muller , 1766) and
- L. p. amethystinus ( Heuglin , 1863).
The purple star of the genus actual gloss star ( Lamprotornis ) is in a direct relatives group with two other species, the red shoulder gloss star and the red star star in the crown group of this clade.
literature
- Charles Hilary Fry, Stuart Keith , Emil K. Urban (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume 6: Picathartes to Oxpeckers. Christopher Helm, London 2000, ISBN 978-0-12-137306-1 , pp. 597-598.
- C. Feare, A. Craig: Starlings and Mynas. Christopher Helm, London on Birdlife International, 1998.
- 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. Retrieved on March 22, 2015. ( online, PDF ( Memento from June 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ))
- Frederike Woog See and be seen - the color vision of birds. In: Der Falke - Journal for Bird Watchers. 5/2009 ( online ), accessed on July 11, 2015.
- GE Hill, KJ McGraw (Ed.): Bird Coloration. Volume 1: Mechanisms and Measurements. Volume 2: Function and Evolution. 2006.
- Rafael Maia, Dustin R. Rubenstein, Matthew D. Shawkey: Key ornamental innovations facilitate diversification in an avian radiation. In: Biological Sciences - Evolution: PNAS. Volume 110, No. 26, 2013, 10687-10692; published ahead of print 10 June 2013, doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1220784110 ( full text ), accessed on March 26, 2015.
Web links
- Lamprotornis purpureus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Purple Glossy-starling ( Lamprotornis purpureus ) . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Purple Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis purpureus) in the Internet Bird Collection
- Purpurglanzstar ( Lamprotornis purpureus ) from Avibase; accessed on May 26, 2015.
- Lamprotornis purpureus in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
- xeno-canto: Sound recordings - Purple Glossy-starling ( Lamprotornis purpureus )
- Video
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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 f 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. 597-598 .
- ↑ Frederike Woog Seeing and being seen - color vision of birds in: Der Falke - Journal für Vogelbeobachter 5/2009. [2]
- ↑ a b C. Feare; A. Craig 1998: Starlings and Mynas . Christopher Helm, London. On Birdlife international., ( [3] ). Retrieved May 24, 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.
