Grauer's broadbill (''Pseudocalyptomena graueri''), also known as the African green broadbill, 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

Eurylaimidae The Eurylaimidae are a family of suboscine passerine birds that occur from the eastern Himalayas to Indonesia and the Philippines. The family previously included the sapayoa from the Neotropics, the asities from Madagascar, and the Calyptomeni ...

, and 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 ...

within the genus ''Pseudocalyptomena''. Its name commemorates the German zoologist

Rudolf Grauer Rudolf Grauer (20 August 1870, Hellbrunn, Salzburg – 17 December 1927, Vienna) was an Austrian explorer and zoologist. He conducted zoological investigations in British East Africa (present-day Uganda) in 1905, German East Africa in 1907, a ...

who collected natural history specimens in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

Taxonomy

Baron Walter Rothschild, who described this species, considered it to be a flycatcher only superficially similar to the Asian broadbills 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 thr ...

'', hence the name ''pseudo-'' or "false" ''Calyptomena''. It is currently regarded as an actual broadbill, one of only a few African representatives of a primarily Asian family.

Description

It is bright green with a blue throat and vent and a small bill, quite unlike those of other broadbills. Adults have finely black-streaked buff crowns and narrow black eyestripes.

Habitat and range

It occurs in 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 ...

, and is endemic to the

Albertine Rift Mountains The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tan ...

of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. In Uganda it is a rare resident at 2,100 to 2,200 metres in the

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a large primeval forest located in south-western Uganda in the Kanungu District. The Bwindi forest is on the edge of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, at elevations ranging from . ...

. Density is probably less than one individual per km².

Diet

Grauer's broadbill feeds on seeds and fruit, flowers and flower buds, and some invertebrates.

Status

This species is rare, but currently protected only in part of its range. It is threatened by deforestation and habitat degradation, particularly as its currently known distribution overlaps with areas that have seen massive human population influxes in the recent past. It has been classified as vulnerable by 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 ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.

- Animal Diversity Web {{Taxonbar, from=Q941526

Grauer's broadbill Grauer's broadbill (''Pseudocalyptomena graueri''), also known as the African green broadbill, is a species of bird in the family Eurylaimidae, and is monotypic within the genus ''Pseudocalyptomena''. Its name commemorates the German zoologist ...

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot