Hose's broadbill (''Calyptomena hosii'') is a

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 bird 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 ...

Calyptomenidae Calyptomenidae is a family of passerine birds found in Africa, the Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and a ...

. It was described by the British naturalist

Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe (22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909) was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his career he published several mo ...

in 1892 and is named after the British zoologist

Charles Hose Charles Hose FRGS. FLS (12 October 1863 – 14 November 1929) was a British colonial administrator, zoologist and ethnologist. Life and career He was born in Hertfordshire, England, and was educated at Felsted in Essex. Admitted to Clare Colleg ...

, who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

of the species. It is long, with females weighing on average and males weighing . Males are bright green and have conspicuous black spots on the wings, black markings on the head, blue , black

flight feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

, and a large green tuft covering most of the bill. Females have smaller forehead tufts, lime-green underparts with

sky blue Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' i ...

instead of azure blue on the , and lack black markings on the head, except for a black spot in front of the eye. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to montane regions in north, central, and southeastern

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, where it mostly occurs in forests at elevations of .

Omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

, it mainly feeds on fruit like

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 berries, supplementing its diet with insects and leaf buds. It is mainly seen alone or in pairs but can form flocks of up to 6–8 birds near fruiting trees. Breeding occurs from April to October, with

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

of 2–4 eggs being laid in delicate hanging nests. It is classified as being

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

due to a moderately rapid decline in its population caused by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Hose's broadbill was described as ''Calyptomena hosii'' by the British naturalist

in 1892 based on specimens collected from

Mount Dulit Mount Dulit is a mountain in Borneo. It peaks at above sea level and stands at the head of the Baram River in northern Sarawak, Malaysia. It is a western outlier of the Bornean cordillera and is largely covered with tropical rainforest. It h ...

. The name of the genus, ''

Calyptomena ''Calyptomena'' is a genus of birds in the family Calyptomenidae. The name is a combination of two Greek words: ''kaluptos'' meaning "covered", and ''mēnē'', meaning "moon". Established by Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1822, the genus contains th ...

'', is from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

words ''kaluptos'', meaning covered, and ''mēnē'', meaning moon. The specific name ''hosii'', as well as the common name, is in honour of the British zoologist

, who collected the

of the species. Hose's broadbill is the official common name designated by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

. Other names for the species include blue-bellied broadbill, Hose's green broadbill, magnificent broadbill, and magnificent green broadbill. Whitehead's broadbill is one of three species in the genus ''Calyptomena'', a genus of three bright green broadbills found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. ''Calyptomena'' is one of two genera in the

, the other being ''

Smithornis ''Smithornis'' is a genus of birds in the family Calyptomenidae, the broadbills. The genus comprises three species native to Africa. Before 1914 this genus was classified in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae, due to certain similari ...

'', a genus of three rather dull-coloured species found in Africa. Although species-level relationships within the family are unclear, both the genera are monophyletic (including all descendants of a common ancestor) taxa that are

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

(most closely related) to each other.

Description

Hose's broadbill is long, with females weighing on average and males weighing . Males have bright shimmery green , with a large tuft of feathers on the forehead covering most of the bill and a thin pale green

eye-ring The eye-ring of a bird is a ring of tiny feathers that surrounds the orbital ring, a ring of bare skin immediately surrounding a bird's eye. The eye-ring is often decorative, and its colour may contrast with adjoining plumage. The ring of feather ...

. There is a black spot in front of the eyes and black patches behind the , on the back of the neck, and across the upper back. The have conspicuous circular black spots and the

are black with green edges. The breast is

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

blue and the belly and are azure blue. Females differ in their smaller forehead tufts, paler upperparts with a slight olive tint, and lime-green with

instead of azure blue. They also have lime green eye-rings and no black on the head other than the spot in front of the eye. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

is blackish, the bill is dark brownish-black to black, and the feet are dark

olive green Olive is a dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green olives. As a color word in the English language, it appears in late Middle English. Shaded toward gray, it becomes olive drab. Variations Olivine Olivine is the typica ...

. Juveniles are mostly like females, but juvenile males have dark feathers on the back of the neck. Immature males are similar to adult males, but lack most of the head markings and have less blue on the underparts. The species can be differentiated from the other two species of ''Calyptomena'' , which also occur in Borneo, by its blue underparts. It can be told apart from the

green broadbill The green broadbill (''Calyptomena viridis'') also known as the lesser green broadbill is a small bird in the family Calyptomenidae. It was formerly classified in the family Eurylaimidae, a group of closely related birds that share the name "b ...

by its larger size and spots on the wings, instead of bars as in the latter.

Whitehead's broadbill Whitehead's broadbill (''Calyptomena whiteheadi'') is a species of bird in the family Calyptomenidae. It is endemic to mountain ranges of north-central Borneo, where it mainly inhabits montane forests and forest edges at elevations of . It is ...

is larger and has a black patch on the breast.The only recorded vocalisation is a low, soft, pleasant dove-like ''coo-wooo'', with the second note upslurred. It is given while making bobbing head movements.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island of Borneo, Hose's broadbill inhabits the northern and central parts of the island, where it is found discontinuously from

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is third-highest peak of an island on Earth, and 20th most prominent mountain in the worl ...

to the Müller Mountains, Kayan Mentarang, the Dulit Range, the Sambaliung Mountains, and the

Sangkulirang Peninsula Cape Mangkalihat, also known as Cape Sangkulirang, is a cape in eastern Borneo. It is located in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan, in the regencies of Berau and East Kutai. The cape, as part of the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst, is n ...

. It is also found in southeastern Borneo. It may be locally migratory depending on the fruiting seasons of trees it feeds on. Hose's broadbill is mainly found on hill slopes, inhabiting

dipterocarp forest Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fr ...

, lower

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

, lowland forest on hills, and forests with limestone

pinnacles A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

(rock columns). It is mainly found at elevations of , but can be seen as low as and as high as around .

Behaviour and ecology

The generation length (average age of parents in the current population) of the species is 4.2years. The species is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

but mainly feeds on fruit, such as

and berries. It has been recorded eating soft, greyish-yellow berries and small orange figs covered with short, spiky hairs. It also eats insects and leaf buds. It generally forages in the lower levels of the forest. Hose's broadbills are mainly seen alone or in pairs, but small flocks of 6–8 birds are found at fruiting trees. Breeding has been observed from April to October. It makes a delicate hanging nest out of dead leaves, rattans, and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, with an outer covering of green moss and lichen and a trailing "tail" made of rattan leaves. One nest measured around and was hanging from a low, sagging branch high.

Clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

have 2–4 eggs. The time taken for incubation and

fledging Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...

is unknown.

Status

Hose's broadbill is classified as being

by the

due to its a moderately rapid decline in its population caused by

at lower altitudes in its range. It is locally common and occurs in several

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

Gunung Mulu National Park The Gunung Mulu National Park is a national park in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses caves and karst formations in a mountainous equatorial rainforest setting. The park is famous for its ca ...

, but becomes rarer after

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 ...

occurs. Lowland logging in its range has been extensive, but the species' preference for montane habitats may protect it in the short term. Surveys to understand the extent of population decline, studies to find the species' habitat preferences, and protection of areas with suitable habitats are needed to conserve the species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q605631 Calyptomena Endemic birds of Borneo Birds described in 1892 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Richard Bowdler Sharpe