Widow Tangare

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Widow Tangare
Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Tangaren (Thraupidae)
Subfamily : Tachyphoninae
Genre : Conothraupis
Type : Widow Tangare
Scientific name
Conothraupis mesoleuca
( Berlioz , 1939)

The Witwentangare ( Conothraupis mesoleuca ) is a rare songbird from the family of tanagers . It is endemic in the Emas National Park between Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul and was thought to be lost between 1938 and 2003.

description

The widow tangar reaches a length of 16 centimeters. The male's head, throat, top and tail are black. The underbust and the belly are white, the flanks and the underside of the tail are also black. The distinctive gray-white conical beak is characteristic. In its brownish plumage, the female is reminiscent of the female of the mirror tangar ( Conothraupis speculigera ) as well as the female of the ultramarine bishop ( Cyanocompsa brissonii ). But since only one female has been discovered, further studies are necessary to obtain more precise data.

Way of life and habitat

Little is known about the way of life of the widow tangar. The specimen copy was discovered in the middle of the bushy vegetation in the dry forest in the transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the Brazilian Cerrado .

Rediscovery and Status

On 25 August 1938, the French ethnologist discovered Jehan Albert Vellard (1901-1996) at Juruena in Central Brazil a new species with a powerful conical beak, the type specimen (a male), he at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris sent . For 66 years it was the only evidence of widow tangerines. After an unconfirmed sighting by the bird guide Bráulio A Carlos in the gallery forests in the Emas National Park in 2003 , the Brazilian ornithologist Dante Buzzetti visited the alleged site in October 2004 and heard the song of a bird that he could not identify. He took up the singing and was able to attract a brownish bird, which, however, could hardly be observed. A few days later, Buzzetti resumed a melodious chant that enabled him to attract and observe the first male of the widow tangar. Buzzetti later confirmed that the first recorded song was that of the widow's tangerine.

Since 2004 there have been six sightings at four different locations in Emas National Park. Loss of habitat due to the degradation of the Cerrado and the expansion of agriculture are believed to be the main reason for their rarity.

literature

  • Weidensaul, Scott: The Ghost With Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking, and the Search for Lost Species . Northpoint Press, 2002, ISBN 0374246645
  • Berlioz, Jacques: A new genus and species of tanager from central Brazil . Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 59: p. 102nd, 1939
  • Hilty, Stephen: Tanagers (Family Thraupidae) In: Handbook of the Birds of the World . Volume 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds, p. 159, 2012
  • Candia-Gallardo, CE, Silveira, LF e Kuniy, AA: A new population of the Cone-billed Tanager Conothraupis mesoleuca, with information on the biology, behavior and type locality of the species . Bird Conservation International 20: p. 149-160, 2010

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