Ramphocelus
Brazilian tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Ramphocelus
Desmarest, 1805
Type species
Tanagra bresilia
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

See species list

Ramphocelus is a Neotropical genus of birds of the tanager family. They have enlarged shiny whitish or bluish-grey lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in display. However, this is greatly reduced in the females of most species. Males are black and red, orange or yellow, while females resemble a duller version of the males, or are brownish or greyish combined with dull red, orange or yellowish.

Ramphocelus tanagers are found in semi-open areas. The nest is a cup built by the female of plant materials such as moss, rootlets, and strips of large leaves like banana or Heliconia, and is often in a fairly open site in a tree. The female usually lays pale blue eggs, with grey, brown or lavender spots, and the young stay in the nest for only about 12 days.

The songs of this genus are repetitions of rich one- or two-syllable whistles.

Ramphocelus tanagers hunt at forest edges or in second growth, taking insects in flight or picking them from leaves.

Taxonomy

The genus Ramphocelus was introduced by the French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1805.[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek words rhamphos "bill" and koilos "concave".[2] The type species was designated as the Brazilian tanager by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855.[3][4]

The other species form two superspecies. One includes crimson-backed, Huallaga, silver-beaked and Brazilian tanagers, and the other comprises Passerini's, Cherrie's and flame-rumped tanagers.

The subspecies icteronotus of the flame-rumped tanager is sometimes considered a separate species, and the lemon-rumped tanager, R. icteronotus, and Passerini's and Cherrie's tanager were formerly lumped as scarlet-rumped tanager, R. passerinii (a treatment some authorities still prefer).

Species in taxonomic order

The genus contains nine species:[5]

Male Female Scientific name Common Name Distribution
Ramphocelus sanguinolentus Crimson-collared tanager southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca in Mexico through the Atlantic slope of Central America,western Panama
Ramphocelus nigrogularis Masked crimson tanager Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru
Ramphocelus dimidiatus Crimson-backed tanager Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela, and introduced to French Polynesia
Ramphocelus melanogaster Huallaga tanager Peru
Ramphocelus carbo Silver-beaked tanager South America from eastern Colombia and Venezuela south to Paraguay and central Brazil, Perú and on Trinidad
Ramphocelus bresilia Brazilian tanager eastern Brazil and far northeastern Argentina
Ramphocelus passerinii Scarlet-rumped tanager Caribbean lowlands from southern Mexico to western Panama
Ramphocelus flammigerus Flame-rumped tanager Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
Ramphocelus icteronotus Lemon-rumped tanager Panama to Ecuador

References

  1. ^ Desmarest, Anselme Gaëtan (1805). Histoire naturelle des Tangaras, des Manakins et des Todiers (in French). Paris: Imprimarie de H. Perronneau. Plate 28 text.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 148.
  4. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 310.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Tanagers and allies". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2018.

Sources

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