Western black-headed mosquito-eater

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Western black-headed mosquito-eater
Western black-headed mosquito-eater, male (in Carajás National Forest, Brazil)

Western black-headed mosquito-eater, male
(in Carajás National Forest , Brazil)

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Screeching Birds (Tyranni)
without rank: Tracheophonic shrieking birds (Furnariida)
Family : Mosquito eaters (Conopophagidae)
Genre : Conopophaga
Type : Western black-headed mosquito-eater
Scientific name
Conopophaga melanogaster
Ménétriés , 1835

The western black-headed mosquito-eater ( Conopophaga melanogaster ), sometimes also called black-bellied mosquito-eater , is a species of bird from the (only) genus Conopophaga within the family of mosquito-eaters (Conopophagidae). The species has a large range that includes the South American countries Brazil and Bolivia . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

Female of the western black-headed mosquito-eater

The western black-headed mosquito-eater reaches a body length of about 14.5 centimeters. The beak is black, its legs blue-gray. Compared to its conspecifics, it has a relatively long tail. The male's head is completely black. Most of the underside is also black. Behind the eye it has a long white-silvery tufted stripe. The top shines red-brown to chestnut-colored. The flanks and the back of the abdomen are greyish. The female has a dark gray parting, while the crown and nape of the head are dark brown. The postocular stripe is white. The upper side has a shiny red-brown to chestnut color, similar to that of the male. The underside is predominantly light gray, but it is whitish on the throat and in the middle of the abdomen.

distribution and habitat

The bird occasionally occurs in the undergrowth of damp forests. It usually moves in areas up to 400 meters above sea level that are not regularly flooded by rivers, the so-called terra firme forests . The bird is found in Brazil south of the Amazon on the banks of the Rio Tocantins to west of the drain of the Rio Madeira . The distribution area extends south to Rondônia and the north of Mato Grosso . In Bolivia it is present in the north of the Beni department .

behavior

Usually the bird travels singly or in pairs. Usually he sits in the branches of the lower strata . Here it preferably moves in dense undergrowth near rivers and their river banks. From his seat he looks for insects that he catches from leaves or on the ground.

Etymology and history of research

Édouard Ménétriés (1802–1861) described the western black-headed mosquito-eater under the protonym that is valid today . The type specimen was collected by Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff (1774–1852) near Cuiabá .

"Conopophaga" is made up of the Greek words "kōnōps" for "mosquito, schnake" and "-phagos" for "-eating". The Greek epithet »melanogaster« is a combination of »melas« for »black« and »gastēr« for »belly«.

literature

  • Robert Sterling Ridgely, Guy Tudor : The Birds of South America: the Suboscine Passerines . tape 2 . University of Texas Press, Austin 1994, ISBN 978-0-292-77063-8 .
  • Robert Sterling Ridgely, Guy Tudor: Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines . University of Texas Press, Austin 2009, ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8 .
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • Édouard Ménétriés: Monographie de la famille des Myiotherinae où sont décrites les espèces qui ornent le musée de l'académie impériale de science . In: Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des sciences de St.-Pétersbourg . tape 1 , 1835, p. 443-543 ( online [accessed October 17, 2012]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Robert Sterling Ridgely et al. a. (1994), p. 400
  2. ↑ Robert Sterling Ridgely et al. a. (2009), p. 388
  3. ↑ Édouard Ménétriés, p. 537
  4. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 116
  5. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 247