Sunbittern

Sunbittern
At Smithsonian National Zoological Park, USA
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Neognathae
Order: Eurypygiformes
Family: Eurypygidae
Selby, 1840
Genus: Eurypyga
Illiger, 1811
Species: E. helias
Binomial name
Eurypyga helias
(Pallas, 1781)

The Sunbittern, Eurypyga helias is a bittern-like bird of tropical regions of the Americas, and the sole member of the family Eurypygidae (sometimes spelled Eurypigidae) and genus Eurypyga.

Contents

Description and reproduction

The bird has a generally subdued coloration, with fine linear patterns of black, grey and brown. Its remiges however have vividly-colored middle webs, which with wings fully spread show bright eyespots in red, yellow, and black. These are shown to other sunbitterns in courtship and threat displays, or used to startle potential predators. Like some other birds, the Sunbittern has powder down.

They build open nests in trees, and lay two eggs with blotched markings. The young are precocial, but remain in the nest for several weeks after hatching.[2]

Distribution and habitat

The Sunbittern's range extends from Guatemala to Brazil. The species may also be present in southern Mexico: it has been traditionally reported from the Atlantic slope of Chiapas, but no specimens are known and there have been no recent records.[3]

The Sunbittern is normally found foraging on the ground and scratching for insects.

Taxonomy

The Sunbittern is usually placed in the Gruiformes, but this was always considered preliminary. Altogether, the bird is most similar to another enigmatic bird that was provisionally placed in the Gruiformes, the Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus).[4] Molecular studies seem to confirm that the Kagu and Sunbittern are each other's closest living relatives.[5][6] They are probably not Gruiformes (though the proposed Metaves are just as weakly supported).[7] Altogether, the two species seem to form a minor Gondwanan lineage which could also include the extinct adzebills and/or the mesites, and is of unclear relation to the Gruiformes proper. Notably, the Kagu and mesites also have powder down.

A DNA study by Hackett et al. (2008) concluded strongly, as well as Fain & Houde (2004) and other researchers, that the Sunbittern and the Kagu form a clade, but puts these two as a sister group of the swifts, nightjars and hummingbirds.[8]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2008). Eurypyga helias. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 21 November 2008.
  2. ^ Archibald, George W. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph. ed. Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. pp. 100. ISBN 1-85391-186-0. 
  3. ^ Howell, Steve N. G. and Webb, Sophie (1995) A guide to the birds of Mexico and Northern Central America ISBN 0-19-854012-4
  4. ^ Houde et al. (1997) Phylogeney and evolution of 12S rDNA in Gruiformes (Aves). In: Mindell, D. P. (ed.), Avian Molecular Evolution and Systematics. Academic Press, San Diego. Pp. 121-158.
  5. ^ Fain & Houde (2004) Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds. Evolution 58(11): 2558-2573.
  6. ^ Ericson et al. (2006) Diversification of Neoaves: Integration of molecular sequence data and fossils. Biology Letters 2 (4): pp. 543–547
  7. ^ Morgan-Richards et al. (2008) Bird evolution: testing the Metaves clade with six new mitochondrial genomes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8 (20).
  8. ^ Hackett, S. et al. (2008) "A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History " Science 320 (5884) 1763 - 1768

External links