The dark-backed wood quail (''Odontophorus melanonotus'') is a
bird species in the family
Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in
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 ...
and
Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics
The dark-backed wood quail is one of 15 species in the
genus ''
Odontophorus''. Within the genus, it is part of the chestnut wood quail
species complex. At various times it has been proposed or considered as
conspecific with
chestnut wood quail
The chestnut wood quail (''Odontophorus hyperythrus'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found only in Colombia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The chestnut wood quail has at various times been proposed or ...
(''O. hyperythrus''),
rufous-fronted wood quail
The rufous-fronted wood quail (''Odontophorus erythrops'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics
The rufous-fronted wood quail has at various time ...
(''O. erythrops''), and
rufous-breasted wood quail (''O. speciosus'').
[Carroll, J. P., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Dark-backed Wood-Quail (''Odontophorus melanonotus''), 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.dbwqua1.01 retrieved September 12, 2021]
The generic name ''Odontophorus'' is from the
Greek ''odontophoros'', meaning tooth-bearing. The
specific epithet
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 ...
''melanonotus'' is from the Greek ''melas'', meaning black, and ''notus'', meaning backed.
The species is
monotypic.
[
]
Description
The dark-backed wood quail is long. Both males and females weigh about . Adults of both sexes are overall brownish black with fine chestnut vermiculation
Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...
. The throat and breast are reddish chestnut. The juvenile is similarly colored but duller overall.[
]
Distribution and habitat
The dark-backed wood quail is found in the Andes from southern Colombia's Nariño Department south to Cotopaxi Province
Cotopaxi () is one of the provinces of Ecuador. The capital is Latacunga. The province contains the Cotopaxi Volcano, an intermittent volcano with a height of .
Cantons
The province is divided into 7 cantons. The following table lists each c ...
in Ecuador. It inhabits primary and secondary tropical forest in the fairly narrow altitudinal band between . Though primarily terrestrial, it roosts above ground in trees.[
]
Behavior
Feeding
The dark-backed wood quail forages in groups of up to 10 birds seeking terrestrial invertebrates and fruit.[
]
Breeding
Almost nothing is known about the dark-backed wood quail's breeding phenology
Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation).
Examples includ ...
. Observations of recently hatched chicks and dependent young in many different months indicate a long breeding season or possibly two of them.[
]
Vocalization
The dark-backed wood quail's advertising song is a duet, "a fast rollicking 'koreewow-koreewow-koreewow...'" and calls include "soft whistles and mellow rolling notes."[
]
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 dark-backed wood quail as vulnerable. "This species has a small and fragmented range, with recent records from few sites. Available habitat, and presumably the population, is declining."[
]
References
External links
BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q742535
dark-backed wood quail
The dark-backed wood quail (''Odontophorus melanonotus'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics
The dark-backed wood quail is one of 15 species in the ...
Birds of the Colombian Andes
Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes
dark-backed wood quail
The dark-backed wood quail (''Odontophorus melanonotus'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics
The dark-backed wood quail is one of 15 species in the ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot