The Chiriqui quail-dove or rufous-breasted quail-dove (''Zentrygon chiriquensis'') 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 ...

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

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

.Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Chiriqui Quail-Dove (''Zentrygon chiriquensis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chqdov1.01 retrieved September 25, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The Chiriqui quail-dove is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

. It was originally described in genus ''Geotrygon'' and is sometimes considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with the

white-faced quail-dove The white-faced quail-dove (''Zentrygon albifacies'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.Soberanes-González, C. A., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, M. d. C. Arizmendi, ...

(''Z. albifacies'') and the

lined quail-dove The lined quail-dove (''Zentrygon linearis'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The lined quail-dove's taxonomic history is complex. It was ori ...

(''Z. linearis'').

Description

The male Chiriqui quail-dove is long and the female . Adults weigh between . The adult male has a slate gray crown that is paler on the forehead and darker on the nape. The rest of the face is buffy with a black malar stripe and a thin black line through the eye. The eye is brownish orange surrounded by bare red skin. The upperparts transition from chestnut on the shoulders through purplish on the upper back to olivaceous with a greenish gloss on the lower back. The chin is buffy white that darkens to reddish on the chest and sides and then lightens to cinnamon buff on the belly; the flanks are a darker cinnamon. Females are very similar, but their breast is usually darker. Juveniles have a brown crown and upperparts and the underparts have dull black bars.

Distribution and habitat

The Chiriqui quail-dove is resident from the

Cordillera de Guanacaste The Cordillera de Guanacaste, also called Guanacaste Cordillera, are a volcanic mountain range in northern Costa Rica near the border with Nicaragua. The mountain range stretches 110 km from northwest to the southeast and contains mostly comp ...

in northern Costa Rica to Chiriquí and

Veraguas Province Veraguas () is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country. The capital is the city of Santiago de Veraguas. It is the only Panamanian province to border both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It covers an area of 10,587.6&nb ...

s in western Panama. It inhabits the understory of drier parts of the

Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mounta ...

. On the Caribbean side it generally ranges from but can be found locally as high as . On the Pacific side it usually ranges between and occasionally up to .

Behavior

Feeding

The Chiriqui quail-dove forages on the ground, singly or in pairs. Its diet is seeds, fallen fruit, and small invertebrates. It usually feeds in cover but can be seen along roads and trails in early morning.

Breeding

The Chiriqui quail-dove's nesting season includes August and September but its extent is not known. It builds a shallow cup nest of twigs and leaves and places it on a tree branch. The clutch size is two eggs.

Vocalization

The Chiriqui quail-dove's song is "a single monotonous note ''wooOoh'', gradually swelling in amplitude." It sings "incessantly during breeding season from a perch".

Status

The

IUCN 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 natu ...

has assessed the Chiriqui quail-dove as being of Least Concern based on the size of its range and population estimates, though the population is thought to be declining. Little is known about its biology and ecology, and research is needed "as well as surveys to establish tstrue status."

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27074693 Chiriquí quail-dove Birds of the Talamancan montane forests Chiriquí quail-dove Chiriquí quail-dove Taxonomy articles created by Polbot