Day sleeper

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Day sleeper
Mexico day sleeper (Nyctibius jamaicensis)

Mexico day sleeper ( Nyctibius jamaicensis )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Nyctibiiformes
Family : Day sleeper (Nyctibiidae)
Genre : Day sleeper
Scientific name
Nyctibius
Vieillot , 1816

The day sleepers ( Nyctibius ) are a genus of birds in the family of the same name of the day sleepers (Nyctibiidae) within the order Nyctibiiformes . This genus includes six species. The nocturnal day sleepers inhabit forests and open wooded areas in Central and South America and the Antilles .

features

Day sleepers are quite large birds, 24 to 60 cm, with stocky bodies and round, almost oversized heads. The eyes are noticeably large due to the nocturnal lifestyle. Another striking feature is the very wide and wide cleft beak with a short but pointed beak; this feature is common to all species and indicates the predominant hunting method, the flight hunt for large insects. The legs are short and appear weak, but have strong, flat toes with which the birds can hold on to their resting places. Characteristic is the speckled or spotted plumage, mainly in brown, gray and white tones, which gives the birds excellent camouflage during the day. There is no pronounced gender dimorphism between the sexes . Basically there are few outstanding morphological differences between the species. As a rule, they are differentiated based on size, geographic distribution, details of the coloring of the plumage, or their vocalizations.

behavior

During the day they rest upright and almost motionless on tree stumps or broken branches and look like part of their seat due to their plumage. When in danger, most species adopt an even better camouflaged, fully stretched posture with plumage drawn and eyes closed. The transition to this takes place so gently that the change is difficult to perceive for the observer. Like the flycatcher , the nocturnal day sleepers stumble upon insects from a waiting room . Some of the larger species also occasionally prey on small birds or bats . Outside the breeding season, all species lead a predominantly solitary way of life. The female lays a single spotted egg on the top of a tree stump or in a recess on a branch, a classic nest building does not take place.

Habitat and Distribution

The day sleepers are an exclusively neotropical genus, whose habitats are mainly evergreen forests in lowland areas. Only one species - the Andean Day Sleeper - is a classic highland dweller . The center of their range is the Amazon basin , where a total of four species can be found. In the north it extends to Mexico, while in the south it reaches Argentina . There are also populations on the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola and Jamaica . Many representatives of the genus prefer undisturbed primary forest as habitat, which, in connection with their excellent camouflage, makes it difficult to make reliable statements about their abundance and their development. The IUCN classifies all day sleeper species as not endangered (status least concern ), but also assumes a negative population trend in all cases.

Distribution area of ​​day sleepers

Systematics and history of development

Fossil of the extinct day sleeper Paraprefica major , dated to the Middle Eocene ( Messel Pit , Germany)

Fossil remains of day sleepers from the Eocene are known from the Messel Pit in Germany , where complete skeletons of the genus Paraprefica have been found. An earlier spread of the family in the Old World is therefore considered to be proven.

Genetic studies from the 1990s could not confirm a previously assumed closer relationship between day sleepers and fat swallows . Furthermore, very large genetic differences were found between the individual day-sleeper species, which indicates that the individual species are very old. These differences were so significant that there could possibly be several undiscovered collective species within day sleepers . It is currently certain that N. maculosus and N. leucopterus as well as N. griseus and N. jamaicensis are both sister taxa .

More recent investigations cast doubt on the belonging of the drop day sleeper , which was previously seen as the most basic species of the genus, to Nyctibius . For this purpose, phylogenetic and osteological differences were cited by the researchers , which led to the splitting off of the drop day sleeper and the establishment of the genus Phyllaemulor with the drop day sleeper as the only species. Furthermore, the family Nyctibiidae was separated from the order of the swallow-like and placed in the newly created order Nyctibiiformes .

Recent species

Phylogeny of day sleepers
 Nyctibiidae 

† Paraprefica


   

Phyllaemulor


 Nyctibius 


N. grandis


   

N. aethereus


   


N. maculosus


   

Leucopterus nerve



   

N. griseus


   

N. jamaicensis







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literature

  • Joseph Forshaw: Encyclopedia of Birds . Ed .: David Kirshner. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-1557-4 .
  • Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal : Barn-owls to hummingbirds . In: Handbook of the Birds of the World . tape 5 . Lynx Edicions, 1999, ISBN 978-84-87334-25-2 , pp. 288-297 .
  • David T. Holyoak: Nightjars and Their Allies: The Caprimulgiformes . In: Bird Families of the World . tape 7 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-854987-3 , pp. 167-169 .

Web links

Commons : Day Sleeper ( Nyctibius )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nyctibius. In: iucnredlist.org. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, accessed November 27, 2019 .
  2. ↑ G. Mayr: The Palaeogene Old World Potoo Paraprefica Mayr, 1999 (Aves, Nyctibiidae): its osteology and affinities to the New World Preficinae Olson, 1987 . In: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . tape 3 , no. 4 , 2005, p. 359-370 , doi : 10.1017 / S1477201905001653 .
  3. ↑ Jean Mariaux, Michael J. Braun: A Molecular Phylogenetic Survey of the Nightjars and Allies (Caprimulgiformes) with Special Emphasis on the Potoos (Nyctibiidae) . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . tape 6 , no. 2 , 1996, p. 228-244 , doi : 10.1006 / mpev.1996.0073 .
  4. ↑ Thomas S. Schulenberg, Guy M. Kirwan: Andean Potoo Nyctibius maculosus - Systematics. In: cornell.edu. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2012, accessed November 27, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Peter Voudouris: Common Potoo Nyctibius griseus - Systematics. In: cornell.edu. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2015, accessed November 27, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Thiago VV Costa, Bret M. Whitney, Michael J. Braun, Noor D. White, Luís Fábio Silveira, Nigel Cleere: A systematic reappraisal of the Rufous Potoo Nyctibius bracteatus (Nyctibiidae) and description of a new genus . In: Journal of Ornithology . tape 159 , no. 2 , 2018, p. 367-377 , doi : 10.1007 / s10336-017-1511-2 .
  7. ↑ Noor D. White, Charles Mitter, Michael J. Braun: Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny of potoos (Aves: Nyctibiidae) . In: Journal of Avian Biology . tape 48 , no. 6 , 2017, p. 872-880 , doi : 10.1111 / jav.01313 .
  8. ^ Van Remsen: Proposal (703) to South American Classification Committee - Elevate Steatornithidae and Nyctibiidae to rank of Order. In: lsu.edu. 2016, accessed December 27, 2019 .