The white-mantled barbet (''Capito hypoleucus'') 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 lightweigh ...

in the family

Capitonidae New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans. The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...

. It 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 elsew ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. 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 tropical moist

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 f ...

s, pastureland, and

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss 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

This species was first formally described in 1897 by English ornithologist Osbert Salvin, based on a sample collected by

Antwerp Edgar Pratt Antwerp Edgar Pratt FRGS (6 March 1852 - 4 January 1924) was a Victorian naturalist, explorer, author, and renowned collector of plants, insects, and other animals. Species named for Pratt include three mammals and two reptiles. Two of his sons an ...

Antioquia Department ) , anthem = Himno de Antioquia , image_map = Antioquia in Colombia (mainland).svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Antioquia shown in red , image_ma ...

. The species name is derived from the

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 of the ...

''capito'' - big-headed, and 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 peri ...

''hupo'' - beneath, and ''leukos'' - white. Three subspecies are recognized: * ''C. h. hypoleucus'' - Bolivar to Antioquia (northwest Colombia) * ''C. h. carrikeri'' - Antioquia (northwest Colombia) * ''C. h. extinctus'' - Magdalena Valley (central Colombia)

Description

With the division of

toucan barbet The toucan barbet (''Semnornis ramphastinus'') is a barbet native to western Ecuador and Colombia. Along with the prong-billed barbet, it forms the family Semnornithidae, and is closely related to the toucans. It is a medium-sized barbet with a ...

, the white-mantled barbet is perhaps the largest of the

New World barbet New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans. The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...

s, rivaled only by the scarlet-banded barbet. with an average length of , males weigh an average of and . The bird has black upperparts with narrow pale lines on the nape and scapulars. These lines are not easy to see because the bird is mostly observed higher up in the canopy of tall trees. The forehead and crown are red. The bird's underparts are white with a slight yellowish wash and a flush of cinnamon on the breast. They eyes are red, the large, chunky bill is yellowish, and the legs and feet are greenish-grey. Females have a black spot at the base of the lower mandible.

Distribution and habitat

The white-mantled barbet is found in the

Middle Magdalena Valley The Middle Magdalena Valley, Middle Magdalena Basin or Middle Magdalena Valley Basin ( es, Valle Medio del Magdalena, commonly abbreviated to VMM) is an intermontane basin, located in north-central Colombia between the Central and Eastern Ranges of ...

of Colombia at altitudes between . It is a bird of the

tropical zone The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

, inhabiting humid forests on montane slopes, forest patches with a mosaic of pastures,

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, and plantations mixed with fruiting trees.

Behaviour and ecology

These barbets typically forage in pairs or family groups, and may follow mixed-species feeding flocks. They mostly stay in the forest canopy, but come down and into the open at fruiting trees such as mango and '' Cecropia''. The white-mantled barbet population is declining, primarily due to

. The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

classifies the species as vulnerable. The ''Red Book of the Birds of Colombia'', noting that the species has lost 60% of its historic habitat and that that habitat continues to decrease, lists the bird as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

. The primary causes of this habitat loss are illicit cultivation, overuse of

insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...

s, and small-scale gold mining.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1270006

white-mantled barbet The white-mantled barbet (''Capito hypoleucus'') is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane forests, pastureland, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss. ...

Birds of the Colombian Andes Endemic birds of Colombia

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot