The blue-capped manakin (''Lepidothrix coronata'') is a species of

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 ...

in the family

Pipridae The manakins are a family, Pipridae, of small suboscine passerine birds. The group contains some 54 species distributed through the American tropics. The name is from Middle Dutch ''mannekijn'' "little man" (also the source of the different bird ...

. The males have a brilliant blue cap; some have black, others have green body plumage, but the relationship between the subspecies is not well understood. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Colombia,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, disco ...

and heavily degraded former forest.

Taxonomy

The blue-capped manakin was formally described in 1825 by the German naturalist

Johann Baptist von Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Pipra coronata''. The

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

is the state of

São Paulo de Olivença São Paulo de Olivença is a community and a municipality near the western edge of the state of Amazonas near the tri-country border area in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the ...

in western Brazil. The specific epithet is from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''coronatus'' meaning "crowned". The blue-capped manakin is now the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of the

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 n ...

Lepidothrix ''Lepidothrix'' is a genus of passerine birds in the manakin family Pipridae. Birds in the genus are predominantly found in South America, but one species, the velvety manakin, also ranges into Central America. The females of this genus have gre ...

'' that was introduced by the French naturalist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

in 1854. Phylogeny based on Ohlson et al. 2013.

Subspecies

Six subspecies are recognised, but see the text below the table. With the exception of ''L. c. carbonata'', the subspecies categories listed above are not supported

phylogenetically In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

. They were instead named based on differences in male

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. Blue-capped manakins differ

genetically Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working i ...

into six clades based on geographic location: trans-Andean, Venezuela, North Amazon, Napo-Marañon, Central Peru, and South Peru/Bolivia. Interestingly, birds of highly different

fall into the same clades. For example, ''L. c. exquisita'', which has green

males, and ''L. c. coronata'', which has completely black colored males, both fall into the Central Peru clade. Based on significant vocal and phylogenetic differences, in July 2022 the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

split ''L. c. velutina'' and ''L. c. minuscula'' from ''L. coronata'' and named the resulting ''L. velutina'' the velvety manakin. They also renamed the now-reduced ''L. carbonata'' "blue-capped manakin" to avoid confusion with the pre-split species. The velvety manakin was therefore promoted to species status and the "blue-crowned manakin" renamed to the blue-capped manakin.

Evolution

Blue-capped manakins vary genetically based on geographic location. Physical boundaries, such as large Amazonian rivers and the

Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

, tend to separate genetically distinct blue-capped manakins. The uplift of the

seem to be the first major source of separation between blue-capped manakin populations followed by the establishment of Amazonian rivers. The Amazon River separates North and South Amazonian clades and the

Napo River The Napo River ( es, Río Napo) is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. The total length is . The river drains an area of . The mean annual d ...

separates the North Amazon and Napo-Marañon clades. Large rivers present a barrier to Blue-crowned manakins despite being flighted because they prefer the understory of terra firme (non-flooded) forests. Central Peru and South Peru/Bolivia clades and Venezuela and Amazonia clades are not separated by a geographic barrier. It is likely that they instead historically separated and evolved separately for a period of time.

Description

Blue-capped manakins show

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

in weight and wing chord length. Females are heavier at 9.8 g on average with a max weight of 11.5 g and a minimum weight of 8.5 g. Males are 8.5 g on average with a maximum weight of 9.5 g and a minimum weight of 7.5 g. Males have a wing chord length of 60.45 mm on average with a maximum length of 63 mm and a minimum length of 58 mm. Females have a wing chord length of 58.76 mm on average with a maximum length of 62 mm and a minimum length of 55 mm. Blue-crowned manakin male

Males are sooty black with a bright blue crown while females are green. Juvenile

is similar to female

but is duller in color. Their first prebasic

molt In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...

occurs within 2 months of leaving the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

and is a partial

. Their second prebasic

occurs at the end of the first breeding season or one year after their first prebasic

. This

is complete, so they lose their

limits. At this stage, males gain signs of male

. The third prebasic

occurs at the end of their third year and males gain full male

Vocalizations

The blue-capped manakin's

contact call Contact calls are seemingly haphazard sounds made by many social animals (such as a chicken's cluck). Contact calls are unlike other calls (such as alarm calls) in that they are not usually widely used, conspicuous calls, but rather short exclamatio ...

is a ''swee'' sound. It is used by blue-capped manakins of all ages and sex. Males will use it while perching on their song perch, while interacting with other blue-crowned manakins, and while performing some of their

display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Cathode ray tube, video display that provides a quality picture, but can be very heavy and deep ** Electronic visual display, output dev ...

behaviors. Females and fledglings use a soft ''swee'' sound during

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

. Adult females will also use this call when visiting a territorial male. Their

can be a single note or in bouts of a varying number of repetitions. It is a high pitch note that increases in pitch from 2.8 to 5.7 kHz. Territorial males use an advertisement call that sounds like ''chi-wrr''. It can be a single note or 3-5 repetitions. This call is composed of three parts. First, a lower pitched swee sound of 3–5 kHz. Second, a short descending

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * Notes (album), ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) sho ...

of three stacked

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', ...

s or 1.4, 2.8, and 4.8 kHz. Third, a harsh note of two

s of 2.0 and 3.9 kHz. Males make a ' call when interacting with males and females in their

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

. It is composed of 4-5 rapid oscillations between 3.1 and 6 kHz. During

, males make a ''pee'' call of 1-10 repetitions. It consists of both flat

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...

and

s between 1.5 and 15 kHz.

Distribution and habitat

Blue-capped manakins live in terra firme forest

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British co ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

Behavior and ecology

Breeding

Breeding season coincides with the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

(late November to early April). Males are known to display alone or form

leks A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...

of up to seven males. Adult and juvenile males form

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

though juveniles are unable to maintain their own

. Their

range from 206 to 5045 m² in size. They defend their

and attract mates through

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

. They perform their

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

on song perches that are horizontal or slightly angled twigs and will sing between 6am and 5pm. Their

courts are 3–5 m in diameter and are located close to the ground in the open

. They use up to two courts at a time, but courts can change location annually. Their

courtship display A courtship display is a set of display behaviors in which an animal, usually a male, attempts to attract a mate; the mate exercises choice, so sexual selection acts on the display. These behaviors often include ritualized movement ("dances"), v ...

s are somewhat complex with a total of 11 behaviors, 6 of which are aerial. Female's

home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. H ...

s average 4 ha in size and overlap with one lek on average. Nest of a Lepidothrix coronata

Blue-capped manakins make simple, open-cup

s using dry palm, dry leaves, and/or bark externally. The internal lining of their

is pale brown, but can also be whitish or yellow. They use

spider web A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Sp ...

s to secure their

s to the

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

. They chose small shrubs and treelets that are less than 1 meter tall and place their

s on horizontal forks. They typically nest in ''Rudgea spp.'', ''

Ixora killipii ''Ixora killipii'' is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively smal ...

'', ''R. viridifoliax'', and ''R. lindenicana'' along small

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Females are the sole

builders and take care of their offspring alone. They lay two eggs per clutch. Their

s experience high

predation Predation is a biological interaction In ecology, a biological interaction is the effect that a pair of organisms living together in a community have on each other. They can be either of the same species (intraspecific interactions), or o ...

rates. To help mitigate this risk, Blue-crowned manakins choose nesting sites away from wire-tailed manakins, a species that favors similar nesting environments. This reduces the number of birds nesting in one area and thus reduces the chance that predators will predate the area.

Food and feeding

Blue-capped manakins are

frugivore A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

s. Their diet includes fruit from ''

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, s ...

'', ''

Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...

'', ''

Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

'', and ''

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). ...

''. When feeding in a mixed flock, blue-capped manakins tend to flock with cinereus and dusty-throated antshrikes, and the white-flanked, Yasuni, long-winged,

gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed ...

, and rufous-tailed stipplethroats. These

flocks Flocking is the behaviour exhibited when a group of birds, called a flock, are foraging or in flight. Computer simulations and mathematical models that have been developed to emulate the flocking behaviours of birds can also generally be applie ...

are typically only composed of one or two blue-capped manakins. When there are two blue-capped manakins in a flock, they

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also us ...

independently from one another. Their behavior is never aggressive toward other species of birds in the flock. Both males and females

in mixed

, but females spend more time on average in the flock. They

in the

between a height of 2–7 m. Their preferred food while in

are

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

s, including

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,0 ...

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

, and other small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s. While catching

s, their hunting technique was often a sally-strike or sally-glean off of live

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

. Considering their normally

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

diet, it is speculated that the blue-capped manakins are taking advantage of the flock's ability to cause

s to scatter.

Threats

Blue-capped manakins experience high

rates with 70% of

s failing due to

. It is estimated that only 7.5% of

s successfully fledge young. It is uncertain how blue-crowned manakins maintain population size with such a low rate of success, but it has been speculated that high female survivability and multiple

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

attempts per season may be a factor. Blue-capped manakins can get infected with haemosporidian parasites. A genetic study revealed that half of the sampled manakins were infected with blood parasites, representing nine different types. Young individuals had higher infection rates compared to adults.

Status

The blue-capped manakin has least concern conservation status. A major factor in this decision is its large range of . Its population size is unknown, but has a decreasing trend.