Biology:Honeycreeper

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The true honeycreepers[contradictory] form a genus Cyanerpes of small birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. They are found in the tropical New World from Mexico south to Brazil. They occur in the forest canopy, and, as the name implies, they are specialist nectar feeders with long curved bills.

The four Cyanerpes species have colourful legs, long wings and a short tail. The males are typically glossy purple-blue and the females greenish.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Cyanerpes was introduced in 1899 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser with the red-legged honeycreeper as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark-blue" and herpēs meaning "creeper".[3]

There are two other tanagers with honeycreeper in their common name: the green honeycreeper in the monospecific genus Chlorophanes and the golden-collared honeycreeper in the monospecific genus Iridophanes.[4] These two species are sister taxa and belong to the subfamily Hemithraupinae rather than to Dacninae with the members of Cyanerpes.[5][6]

The genus contains four species:[4]

Genus Cyanerpes – Oberholser, 1899 – four species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Short-billed honeycreeper

File:Cyanerpes nitidus - Short-billed Honeycreeper (male); Novo Mundo, Mato Grosso, Brazil.jpg
Male
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Female

Cyanerpes nitidus
(Hartlaub, 1847) 		Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Shining honeycreeper


Male
{{{image2-alt}}}
Female

Cyanerpes lucidus
(Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1859) 		Mexico to Panama and northwest Colombia
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Purple honeycreeper


Male
{{{image2-alt}}}
Female

Cyanerpes caeruleus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Five subspecies
  • C. c. chocoanus Hellmayr, 1920
  • C. c. caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • C. c. hellmayri Gyldenstolpe, 1945
  • C. c. longirostris (Cabanis, 1851) – Trinidad
  • C. c. microrhynchus (Berlepsch, 1884)
Colombia and Venezuela south to Brazil, and on Trinidad.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Red-legged honeycreeper


Male
{{{image2-alt}}}
Female

Cyanerpes cyaneus
(Linnaeus, 1766)

Eleven subspecies
  • C. c. carneipes (Sclater, PL, 1860)
  • C. c. pacificus Chapman, 1915
  • C. c. gigas Thayer & Bangs, 1905
  • C. c. gemmeus Wetmore, 1941
  • C. c. eximius (Cabanis, 1851)
  • C. c. tobagensis Hellmayr & Seilern, 1914
  • C. c. cyaneus (Linnaeus, 1766)
  • C. c. dispar Zimmer, JT, 1942
  • C. c. violaceus Zimmer, JT, 1942
  • C. c. brevipes (Cabanis, 1851)
  • C. c. holti Parkes, 1977
southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Eggs

A commonly repeated, yet false, belief about the various honeycreeper species is that some of them lay black eggs. This idea was first made known in the scientific community with the 1899 publication of Nehrkorn's egg catalog; Nehrkorn's claim was cited in ornithological literature for many years without verification, but by the 1940s it was established that none of the members of Cyanerpes lay such eggs.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oberholser, Harry C. (1899). "A synopsis of the blue honey-creepers of tropical America". Auk 16: 31–35 [32]. doi:10.2307/4069264. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15935243. 
  2. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 393. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483628. 
  3. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds (July 2020). "Tanagers and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/tanagers/. Retrieved 26 October 2020. 
  5. ↑ Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 75: 41–77. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006. PMID 24583021. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3613&context=biosci_pubs. 
  6. ↑ Burns, K.J.; Unitt, P.; Mason, N.A. (2016). "A genus-level classification of the family Thraupidae (Class Aves: Order Passeriformes)". Zootaxa 4088 (3): 329–354. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4088.3.2. PMID 27394344. 
  7. ↑ Eisenmann, Eugene (1953). "What bird lays black eggs?". Auk 70 (3): 362–363. doi:10.2307/4081327. http://sora.unm.edu/node/20171. 

Wikidata ☰ Q248690 entry



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