The African barbets are

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Lybiidae. There are 43 species ranging from the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal ...

''Lybius'' of forest interior to the tinkerbirds (''Pogoniulus'') of

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and scrubland. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of the far south-west of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The African terrestrial barbets, Trachyphoninae, range from the southern Sahara to

. Members of one

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

, ''Trachyphonus'', are the most open-country species of barbets. The subfamily Lybiinae contains the African arboreal barbets. There are 37

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of Lybiinae in 6 genera.

Description and ecology

Most African barbets are about long, plump-looking, with large heads, and their heavy bill is fringed with

bristles A bristle is a stiff hair or feather (natural or artificial), either on an animal, such as a pig, a plant, or on a tool such as a brush or broom. Synthetic types Synthetic materials such as nylon are also used to make bristles in items such as br ...

; the tinkerbirds are smaller, ranging down to the red-rumped tinkerbird (''Pogoniulus atroflavus'') at and . They are mainly solitary birds, eating insects and fruit.

Figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

and numerous other species of fruiting tree and bush are visited. An individual barbet may feed on as many as 60 different species in its range. They will also visit plantations and take cultivated fruit and vegetables. Fruit is eaten whole and indigestible material such as

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

pits regurgitated later (often before

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or with ...

). Regurgitation does not usually happen in the nest (as happens with

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

s), although tinkerbirds do place sticky mistletoe seeds around the entrances of their nests, possibly to deter predators. Like other barbets, they are thought to be important agents in

seed dispersal In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors ...

in tropical forests. As well as taking fruit, African barbets also take

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

prey, gleaned from the branches and trunks of trees. A wide range of insects are taken, including ants, cicadas, dragonflies, crickets, locusts, beetles, moths and mantids. Scorpions and centipedes are also taken, and a few species will take small vertebrates such as lizards, frogs and geckos. The precise nesting details of many African barbets are not yet known, although peculiarly among the

Piciformes Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes , the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of ...

, some sociable species will nest in riverbanks or termite nests. Like many members of their order, Piciformes, their nests are in holes bored into a tree, and they usually lay between 2 and 4 eggs (except for the yellow-breasted barbet which lays up to 6), incubated for 13–15 days. Nesting duties are shared by both parents. There has been generally little interference by humans. Some of the species which require primary woodland are declining due to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

, occasionally to the benefit of close relatives. For example, the loss of highland woods in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

has seen the

moustached tinkerbird The moustached tinkerbird (''Pogoniulus leucomystax'') is a species of bird in the Lybiidae family (African barbets). It is found in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landloc ...

almost disappear and the red-fronted tinkerbird expand its range.

Systematics

Subfamily Lybiinae * Genus '' Gymnobucco'' (4 species) * Genus ''

Stactolaema ''Stactolaema'' is a bird genus in the African barbet family ( Lybiidae) which was formerly included in the Capitonidae New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forest ...

'' (4 species) * Genus '' Pogoniulus'' – tinkerbirds (9 species) * Genus '' Buccanodon'' – yellow-spotted barbets (2 species) * Genus '' Tricholaema'' (6 species) * Genus ''

Lybius ''Lybius'' is a genus of African barbets from the family Lybiidae (formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae). This genus ranges across sub-Saharan Africa. Description The ''Lybius'' species are usually about long, ...

'' (12 species) Subfamily Trachyphoninae * Genus ''

Trachyphonus The African terrestrial barbets are the bird genus ''Trachyphonus'' in the African barbet family (Lybiidae), which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. These birds are more terrestrial than the other Afric ...

'' (6 species) It is not entirely resolved whether the Early to Middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

genus '' Capitonides'' from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

belongs to this family or the

Asian barbet The Asian barbets are a family of bird species, the Megalaimidae, comprising two genera with 35 species native to the forests of the Indomalayan realm from Tibet to Indonesia. They were once clubbed with all barbets in the family Capitonidae bu ...

s (now Megalaimidae). Indeed, given that the prehistoric birds somewhat resembled a primitive toucan (without these birds' present

autapomorph In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to t ...

ies), they might occupy a more basal position among the barbet-toucan clade altogether. On the other hand, they show some similarities to ''

'' in particular and have even been placed into this genus,Mlíkovský (2002) but this move is not widely accepted. "CMC 152", a distal

carpometacarpus The carpometacarpus is a bone found in the hands of birds. It results from the fusion of the carpal and metacarpal bone, and is essentially a single fused bone between the wrist and the knuckles. It is a smallish bone in most birds, generally flat ...

similar to that of barbets and found at the Middle Miocene locality of Grive-Saint-Alban (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) was considered to differ from ''Capitonides'' in the initial description, being closer to extant (presumably Old World) barbets.Ballmann (1969) This fossil is sometimes lumped into ''Trachyphonus'' too; in this case it may have more merit. Supposed

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains of Late Miocene '' Pogoniulus'' were found at Kohfidisch (

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) but are not yet thoroughly studied. It is not clear whether they belong to the extant genus but given the late date this may well be so.

Footnotes

References

* Ballmann, Peter (1969): Les Oiseaux miocènes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère)

he Miocene birds of Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère) He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

'' Geobios'' 2: 157–204. rench with English abstract (HTML abstract) * Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): ''Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe''. Ninox Press, Prague. PDF fulltext
!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-6278 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 --> * Short, L.L. & Horne, J.F.M. (2002): Family Capitonidae. ''In:'' del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2527969 * Barbets * Bird families