Biology:Yellow-crowned gonolek
| Yellow-crowned gonolek | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Malaconotidae |
| Genus: | Laniarius |
| Species: | L. barbarus
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| Binomial name | |
| Laniarius barbarus (Linnaeus, 1766)
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| Synonyms | |
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Lanius barbarus Linnaeus, 1766 | |
The yellow-crowned gonolek (Laniarius barbarus), also known as the common gonolek, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the bushshrike family. It is a common resident breeding bird in equatorial Africa from Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo east to Ethiopia. It is a skulking bird and frequents dense undergrowth in forests and other wooded habitats. The nest is a cup structure in a bush or tree in which two eggs are laid.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow-crowned gonolek in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name La pie-griesche rouge du Sénégal and the Latin Lanius Senegalensis ruber.[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.[3] One of these was the yellow-crowned gonolek. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius barbarus and cited Brisson's work.[4] The species is now placed in the genus Laniarius that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.[5] Two subspecies are recognised.[6]
Description
The yellow-crowned gonolek is 22 cm (8.7 in) long with a long tail and short wings. The adult is a vividly-coloured bird, although easily overlooked as it lurks in undergrowth. It has solidly black upper parts apart from its golden crown, and scarlet underparts other than a buff-yellow undertail. The legs are dark. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler and duller.[7]
Ecology
This species is seldom seen because it inhabits thick undergrowth from which its calls can be heard. These include whistles and rattles, often sung in duet, with a fluted too-lioo overlapped by a rattling ch-chacha. The yellow-crowned gonolek feeds mainly on insects located in bushes or on the ground. The diet consists mostly of beetles and caterpillars, but birds eggs and nestlings are sometimes taken.[7]
It is monogamous and territorial. Some courtship behaviours have been observed with a pair chasing each other through a bush, leaping from branch to branch and emitting metallic twanging sounds. The deep cup-shaped nest is often flimsy and is built in a bush, from rootlets and tendrils. Two, or occasionally three, greyish-green or bluish-green eggs with dark spots are laid.[7]
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Laniarius barbarus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22707575A94130248. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707575A94130248.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22707575/94130248. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ↑ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760) (in fr, la). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés. 2. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 185–187, Plate 17 fig 2. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36011409. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 28: 317–335.
- ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1766) (in la). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 137. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946333.
- ↑ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816) (in fr). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire. Paris: Deterville/self. p. 41. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f47.image.
- ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds (2018). "Batises, woodshrikes, bushshrikes, vangas". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/batises/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Harris, Tony (2010). Shrikes and Bush-shrikes: Including Wood-shrikes, Helmet-shrikes, Shrike Flycatchers, Philentomas, Batises and Wattle-eyes. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 248–249. ISBN 978-1-4081-3459-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=OqJCKm9adAkC&pg=P248.
- Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN:1-873403-32-1
Wikidata ☰ Q1028439 entry
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