Yariguies Brush-finch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yariguies Brush-finch | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Trinomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum Donegan & Huertas, 2006 |
The Yariguies Brush-finch (Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum) is a subspecies[1] of the Yellow-breasted Brush-finch, discovered in 2004 in Colombia.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The feathers of the breast, abdomen, and throat are yellow; those of the coverts, primaries, secondaries, scapulars, auriculars, lores, and tail are black; the crown feathers are russet. It is unique among its conspecifics because it has a jet black back and wing with no white markings. One of the type specimens was photographed and a DNA sample taken, and subsequently the bird was released as researchers wanted to confirm that the new taxon is not endangered before killing a number individuals as type material.[2]
[edit] Distribution and Habitat
Its habitat is the remote cloud rainforest in the northern Colombia. Experts believe the bird's habitat may be threatened[citation needed] which would add it to a list of a few hundred endangered birds in the nation. The pristine area where the birds live is one of the last remaining such Andean cloud forests in the country. The government has established a 190,000 Ha park in the region (Donegan & Huertas 2005; Huertas & Donegan 2006). The discovery was made by Thomas Donegan, of Fundación ProAves and Blanca Huertas, of the Natural History Museum and University College London. The research team had regularly been studying the isolated and densely vegetated region for the last three years. Some regions had to be reached by all day hikes or helicopter drop.
'diet: the bird eats flys and insect in flight.'
[edit] Species discovery
The bird has been discovered in the remote Yariguies mountains in an expedition co-led by Thomas Donegan of Fundación ProAves and Blanca Huertas, a curator at the Natural History Museum in London. According the researchers, the region is so little explored that several more hitherto undescribed birds and butterflies are found there (Donegan & Huertas, 2006). Huertas, a lepidopterologist by training, found several taxa of butterflies new to science (Anonymous, 2006). Further information about the biological exploration of the region is found in expedition reports (Donegan & Huertas 2005; Huertas & Donegan 2006). The vernacular name "Yariguies Brush-finch" was selected because the Yellow-breasted Brush Finch, as a subspecies of which it is currently classified, is to be split into several species, and it is not clear at the moment to which of these the newly-described bird would belong (Donegan & Huertas, 2006).
[edit] Etymology
The bird is named after the Yariguies indigenous tribe who give their name to the mountain range where the bird was found. Serranía de los Yariguíes was declared a national park last year by the Colombian government and a large forest nature reserve was recently established in the region by Fundación ProAves, Colombia's bird conservation NGO.[3]
[edit] References
- Anonymous (2006): New Bird Discovered on Unexplored Colombian Mountain by BP Conservation Programme Project. BP Conservation Programme Newsletter 2006(27): 2-3. PDF fulltext
- Donegan, Thomas M. & Huertas, Blanca (2006): A new brush-finch in the Atlapetes latinuchus complex from the Yariguíes Mountains and adjacent Eastern Andes of Colombia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 126(2): 94-116. PDF fulltext
- Donegan, Thomas M. & Huertas, Blanca (2005): Threatened Species of Serranía de los Yariguíes: Final Report. Published online by Fundación ProAves, Colombia. Colombian EBA Project Report Series 5. PDF fulltext
- Huertas, Blanca & Donegan, Thomas M. (2006): Proyecto YARÉ: Investigación y Evaluación de las Especies Amenazadas de la Serranía de los Yariguíes, Santander, Colombia. BP Conservation Programme. Informe Final. Published online by Fundación ProAves, Colombia. Colombian EBA Project Report Series 7. PDF fulltext
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Most news reports erroneously claimed that it was "a new species". While the bird could theoretically eventually be elevated to species rank, this is not very likely (Donegan & Huertas, 2006) and at any rate would require a thorough revision of the Yellow-breasted Brush-finch complex.
- ^ Despite some newsreports that this was unprecedented, it has indeed happened in a few cases since 1991. See for example Bulo Burti Boubou and Bugun Liocichla (although the latter was published after Yariguies Brush-Finch, news reports appeared previously). Also, overlooked specimens of the brush finch were found in museum collections, and an individual was collected after it died from natural causes.
- ^ Teixeira, Julian (9 October). New bird discovered on unexplored Colombian mountain. innovations-report. Retrieved on 9 October 2006.
[edit] External links
- Striking new bird discovered in South America. Daily Mail, October 8, 2006. Retrieved 2006-OCT-09.
- Groups find colorful bird in Colombia Associated Press, Lauren Dake, October 9, 2006
