Western chat-tanager

Western chat-tanager
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Incertae sedis
Genus: Calyptophilus
Species: C. tertius
Binomial name
Calyptophilus tertius
Wetmore, 1929
Synonyms

Calyptophilus frugivorus tertius

The western chat-tanager (Calyptophilus tertius) is a passerine bird belonging to the tanager family, Thraupidae. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the eastern chat-tanager (C. frugivorus) but is now usually considered to be a separate species. There is a high degree of divergence between the two in mitochondrial DNA and intron sequences. Speciation is likely to have occurred on two ancient islands which later fused to form present-day Hispaniola.[2]

It is 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long. The upperparts are dark brown. The breast and throat are white shading into the grey-brown belly and flanks. There is a yellow patch between the eye and bill. The tail is long and rounded. The bird has whistling and buzzing calls. The eastern chat-tanager is similar but has a bare yellow ring around the eye and is smaller at 17 cm (6.7 in).

The western chat-tanager inhabits wet forest in mountainous areas, usually 745 to 2200 meters. It occurs in southern Haiti and in the Sierra de Bahoruco in the south-west of the Dominican Republic. It mainly forages on the ground.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Calyptophilus tertius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Andrea K. Townsend; Christopher C. Rimmer; Steven C. Latta & Irby J. Lovette (2007). "Ancient differentiation in the single-island avian radiation of endemic Hispaniolan chat-tanagers (Aves: Calyptophilus)". Molecular Ecology. 16 (17): 3634–3642. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03422.x. PMID 17845436.
  • Raffaele, Herbert; Wiley, James; Garrido, Orlando; Keith, Allan & Raffaele, Janis (2003) Birds of the West Indies, Christopher Helm, London.
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