Grauer's broadbill

Grauer's broadbill
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Eurylaimidae
Genus: Pseudocalyptomena
Rothschild, 1909
Species: P. graueri
Binomial name
Pseudocalyptomena graueri
Rothschild, 1909[2]

The Grauer's broadbill or African green broadbill (Pseudocalyptomena graueri) is a species of bird in the Eurylaimidae family, and is monotypic within the genus Pseudocalyptomena.[3] Its name commemorates the German zoologist Rudolf Grauer who collected natural history specimens in the Belgian Congo.[4]

Taxonomy

Baron Walter Rothschild, who described this species, considered it to be a flycatcher only superficially similar to the Asian broadbills of the genus Calyptomena, hence the name pseudo- or "false" Calyptomena.[2] It is currently regarded as an actual broadbill, one of only a few African representatives of a primarily Asian family.

Description

It is bright green with a blue throat and vent and a small bill, quite unlike those of the other broadbills, adult has finely black-streaked buff crown and narrow black eyestripe.[2]

Habitat and range

It occurs in tropical moist montane forest, and is endemic to the Albertine Rift Mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In Uganda it is a rare resident at 2,100 to 2,200 metres in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.[5] Density is probably less than one individual per km2.[1]

Diet

Grauer's broadbill feeds on seeds and fruit, flowers and flower buds, and some invertebrates.[1]

Status

This species is rare, but currently protected only in part of its range. It is threatened by deforestation and habitat degradation, particularly as its currently known distribution overlaps with areas that have seen massive human population influxes in the recent past. It has been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 BirdLife International (2012). "Pseudocalyptomena graueri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Rothschild, H. (1909). "Description of a new bird from Africa". Ibis. 51 (4): 690–691. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1909.tb05277.x.
  3. ↑ Thomas M. Brooks; John D. Pilgrim; Ana S. L. Rodrigues & Gustavo A. B. Da Fonseca (2005). "Conservation status and geographic distribution of avian evolutionary history". In Andy Purvis; John L. Gittleman & Thomas Brooks. Phylogeny and Conservation. Conservation Biology. 8. Cambridge University Press. pp. 267–294. ISBN 978-0-521-82502-3.
  4. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 94.
  5. ↑ Britton, P. L., ed. (1980). Birds of East Africa: their habitat, status and distribution. Nairobi: East Africa Natural History Society. p. 112.

Further reading


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