Rocket tail star
| Rocket tail star | ||||||||||||
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Immature spatula-tailed star ( Crypsirina cucullata ), lithograph by John Gould |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crypsirina | ||||||||||||
| Vieillot , 1816 |
The rocket-tailed star ( Crypsirina ) is a genus of corvidae (Corvidae), which includes two species - spatula-tailed star ( C. cucullata ) and rocket-tailed star ( C. temia ). Rakettschwanzelstern are relatively small, black-gray members of their family and are characterized by their short, powerful beaks, silky forehead plumage and their long tail feathers that are widened towards the end and are reminiscent of a Rakett . Their distribution area extends from Myanmar to Bali , but leaves out Sumatra and the southern Malay Peninsula . Rocket-tailed stars are birds of the Southeast Asian lowland forests, where they move in the thick branches of trees and bushes. They are omnivores, but prefer insects as food and often move in larger groups when foraging.
Rakettschwanzelstern are single breeders, build an open nest in trees and bushes and the clutches contain two to four eggs. The genus Crypsirina was first described by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 . Their closest relatives are the dangle star ( Dendrocitta ), the ladder tail star ( Temnurus ) and the mourning star ( Platysmurus ), all of which were temporarily placed in this genus. The type of the genus is the Rakettschwanzelster ( C. temia ). While the rocket tailster is not considered endangered, the spatula tailster is on BirdLife International's early warning list .
features
Physique and coloring
With 29–33 cm total length and 114–145 g body weight, rocket-tailed stars are among the smallest recent ravens. They are compactly built, but have showy, long tails. Like the related dangling star , trauer star and ladder tail star , they have rather short, powerful and curved beaks. The legs are relatively short and delicate. There is no noticeable gender dimorphism .
Both the Rakettschwanzelster ( C. temia ) and the Spatelschwanzelster ( C. cucullata ) have shiny green head plumage. The rest of the body plumage of the Rakettschwanzelster is greenish, shimmering black. The plumage of the spatula tail is only dull black on the wing feathers and the middle pair of control feathers, the rest of the plumage is light gray and is lined with white edges. The nasal, forehead and rein fletching made of deep black, dull and silky feathers is characteristic of the genus . They replace the stiff nasal bristles of other corvids in the rocket- tailed stars and, although very short, cover the nostrils. The wings are short and wide. The control springs are strongly stepped, and the middle control spring pair is even longer. Unlike most corvids, rocket-tailed stars only have ten instead of twelve rudder feathers. The middle control springs are widened at the end, which leads to the characteristic club shape when the tail is folded. Young birds lack this external feature, and their tail feathers are generally narrower than those of sexually mature individuals.
Flight image and locomotion
Rocket-tailed stars move almost exclusively in the branches and rarely come to the ground. The long tail helps them move nimbly in the thicket. On the floor they move rather clumsily due to their short legs and long tails. In flight, rocket tail stars usually do not cover any great distances. The beats of the wings cause a clearly audible noise.
Vocalizations
The reputation repertoire of the rocket tail star has only been sparsely researched. Both rough, chattering and metallic-rattling calls as well as gentler, plaintive calls are known from both types; but many reports about it are rather anecdotal in nature.
Spreading and migrations
The range of the spatula-tailed lamb ( C. cucullata ) is limited to the lowlands of the Irrawaddy and the Sittang in central Myanmar . In the southeast of Myanmar the distribution area of the rocket-tailed star connects, which extends northwards just as far as Yunnan and with the exception of central Thailand includes the entire Indochinese peninsula . It extends south to the north of the Malay Peninsula . Beyond a distribution gap several hundred kilometers in size, further species areas of the rocket-tailed lizard follow on Java and Bali . It is unclear whether Sumatra and other regions also belonged to the distribution area in earlier times; the assignment of three Rakettschwanzelster individuals to Sumatra and Borneo is probably due to an error. Both species of the genus are considered resident birds, even if little is known about this aspect.
habitat
Rakettschwanzelstern predominantly inhabit open, dry lowland forests (e.g. with two-winged fruit trees ), forest edges, secondary forest and sometimes also the edge areas of mangroves and human settlements. The Rakettschwanzelster is apparently more tolerant than the Spatelschwanzelster, which is more tied to dry forest. The vertical range limit for both species is around 1000 m.
Way of life
nutrition
Rocket-tailed stars feed on both invertebrates and fruits, insects make up the main part of their diet. They are usually read from the leaves in tree tops or bushes. Mostly they are beetles , jumping and catching horrors or termites . Drinking and bathing are among the few occasions when rocket-tailed stars leave the branches and hit the ground.
Social and territorial behavior
Little is known about the social behavior of the species. Both species are said to move individually, in pairs or in small family groups. There have been reports of around 30 flocks of large flocks of the spatula-tailed bird.
Reproduction and breeding
Although the Rakett and Spatelschwanzelster are both individual breeders, they differ in the nest construction: While the former builds a bowl-shaped nest, that of the latter is described as more dome-shaped. Both species lay two to four eggs.
Systematics
| External systematics of the rocket tail star according to Ericson et al. 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Phylogenetic tree of the rocket tail star. The closest relatives of the genus are all native to Southeast Asia. |
The author of the taxon Crypsirina is Louis Pierre Vieillot , who established the genus in 1816 in his Analyze d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire . The grammatical gender is female, the type species is the Rakettschwanzelster ( C. temia ).
The rocket-tailed stars come from a very original line of development of the corvids , which differentiated in the Southeast Asian region. In addition to the mountain crows ( Pyrrhocorax ) that occur today in the Palearctic , these also include the dangle star ( Dendrocitta ), the ladder tail star ( Temnurus ) and the mourning star ( Platysmurus ). With the latter three genera it was combined for a long time in the genus Crypsirina , whereby the Rakett- and Spatelschwanzelster were placed in a sub-genus of the same name. This subdivision was based primarily on morphological features such as the shape of the beak and the texture of the head plumage and was represented (at least in part) by Dean Amadon or Derek Goodwin in their influential family systematics. In fact, Amadon's concept is supported by molecular genetic findings, even if the genera are now considered to be independent.
Danger
No inventory records or estimates are available for either the spatula tail or the rocket tail. While the Rakettschwanzelster is considered to be harmless, the Spatelschwanzelster is on BirdLife International's pre-warning list , as the population and habitat size have apparently decreased since the end of the 20th century.
swell
literature
- Dean Amadon: The Genera of Corvidae and their Relationships. In: American Museum Novitates 1251, January 1944. pp. 1-21.
- Per GP Ericson, Anna-Lee Jansen, Ulf S. Johansson, Jan Ekman: Inter-generic Relationships of the Crows, Jays, Magpies and Allied Groups (Aves: Corvidae) Based on Nucleotide Sequence Data . In: Journal of Avian Biology 36, 2005. pp. 222-234.
- Derek Goodwin : Crows of the World. 2nd Edition. The British Museum (Natural History) , London 1986, ISBN 0565009796 .
- Joseph del Hoyo, Andrew Elliot, David Christie (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes To Old World Sparrows. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009. ISBN 9788496553507 .
- Steve Madge , Hilary Burn: Crows & Jays. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1994, ISBN 0-691-08883-7 .
- Louis Pierre Vieillot: Analyze d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire. A. Belin, Paris 1816. ( Online )
Web links
- : BirdLife International (Phil Benstead, James Gilroy): Species Factsheet - Hooded Treepie ( Crypsirina cucullata ) . Retrieved December 19, 2011.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Vieillot 1816 , p. 36.
- ↑ a b c Madge & Burn 1994 , pp. 118-119.
- ↑ del Hoyo et al. 2009 , p. 603.
- ↑ Goodwin 1986 , pp. 190-191.
- ↑ a b Benstead & Gilroy 2011 . Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e del Hoyo et al. 2009 , pp. 603-604.
- ↑ a b Ericson et al. 2005 , p. 232.
- ↑ Amadon 1944 , p. 13.
- ↑ Goodwin 1986 , pp. 180-182.