The Cuban blackbird (''Ptiloxena atroviolaceus'') 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

Icteridae Icterids () or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae (), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The ...

. It was previously placed in ''Dives'', but now classified in its own genus, the ''Ptiloxena''. Measuring long, this species has entirely black plumage with a slight violet sheen on the upperparts. The only non-black body part is the brown eye. 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 ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, where it is widespread and common. It is entirely absent from the

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Islan ...

and some of the offshore cays. 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 lowland moist forests and heavily degraded former

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' ...

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Cuban blackbird The Cuban blackbird (''Ptiloxena atroviolaceus'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It was previously placed in Dives_(bird), ''Dives'', but now classified in its own genus, the ''Ptiloxena''. Measuring long, this species has entire ...

Endemic birds of Cuba

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Icteridae-stub