The helmeted manakin (''Antilophia galeata'') is a species of small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird in the manakin family

Pipridae The manakins are a family, Pipridae, of small suboscine passerine birds. The group contains some 54 species distributed through the American tropics. The name is from Middle Dutch ''mannekijn'' "little man" (also the source of the different bird ...

. Unlike most manakins, a family associated with tropical rainforests, the helmeted manakin inhabits the seasonally dry

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

savanna of Central Brazil. Until the discovery of the

Araripe manakin The Araripe manakin (''Antilophia bokermanni'') is a species of critically endangered bird from the family of manakins (Pipridae). It was discovered in 1996 and scientifically described in 1998. The species epithet commemorates Brazilian zoologi ...

, the helmeted manakin was the only known member of the genus ''

Antilophia ''Antilophia'' is a genus of South American birds in the manakin family Pipridae. Taxonomy The genus ''Antilophia'' was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach to accommodate the helmeted manakin. The genus name combines t ...

''.

Taxonomy

The helmeted manakin was formally described in 1823 by the German naturalist

Hinrich Lichtenstein Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein (10 January 1780 – 2 September 1857) was a German physician, explorer, botanist and zoologist. Biography Born in Hamburg, Lichtenstein was the son of Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein. He studied medicine ...

from specimens collected near

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

in Brazil. He coined the binomial name ''Pipra galeata''. The helmeted manakin is now placed together with the critically endangered

in the genus ''

'' that was introduced by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1850. The genus name combines 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 p ...

''antios'' meaning "different" with ''lophoeis'' meaning "crested". The specific epithet ''galeata'' is from

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 ...

''galeatus'' meaning "helmeted". The helmeted manakin 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 "unispe ...

: no subspecies are recognised. ''Antilophia'' are very closely related to '' Chiroxiphia'', another genus of manakin which inhabit rainforests in Central and South America. There is possible hybridization between the two genera where their distributions overlap.

Description

The helmeted manakin has sexually dysmorphic plumage. Both males and females are adorned with a feathered crest at the crown of the head. Females and immature males sport a uniform dull-green plumage similar to other female Pipridae. Males are a glossy black with a striking red crest that stretches across the mantle, nape and crown. Subadult males have green plumage with the characteristic black and red colors of the adult male sprouting up in patches. Antilophia are the only genus of manakin with dichromatic (two-coloured) male plumage. The helmeted manakin has a sonorous song that has been likened to that of a

cotinga The cotingas are a large family, Cotingidae, of suboscine passerine birds found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, that are primary frugivorous. They all have broad bills with hooked t ...

. The male song is a whistle composed of eight notes. The song is loud enough to be perceived by the human ear up to 100m away in the forest. Males sing year-round, but song-intensity is highest from July to November.

Distribution and habitat

Helmeted manakins are endemic to the

savanna ecosystems of central Brazil as well as pockets in northeast Paraguay and Bolivia. They are often found near bodies of water in

gallery forests A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

. The seasonally dry Cerrado is an unusual habitat for Pipridae, a family that typically occupies lush rainforests. Within its atypical habitat the Helmeted manakin is fairly abundant. Although its populations are on the decline, due to its large distribution the Helmeted manakin is considered of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the IUNC.

Behaviour

Diet

Like most Pipridae the helmeted manakin is primarily a

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

species, though populations in gallery forests near

Capetinga Capetinga is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 6,890 people living in a total area of 296 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the mic ...

, Brazil have been documented

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

and sallying insects. Helmeted manakins have been observed participating in mixed-species flocks with other passerine birds. Fruit availability in the Cerrado savanna ecosystems is highly seasonal; fruiting peaks in the wet season, and diminishes by 80% in the dry season. Accordingly, the foraging habits of helmeted manakins vary seasonally. In the wet season they forage primarily in the canopy and are selective in their choice of fruit, preferentially foraging for the highest quality fruit. In the dry season they forage in the understory and are less choosy about the fruit species that they consume. Helmeted manakins are important seed dispersers for a number of fruiting plants in the Cerrado.

Breeding

The reproductive period for males stretches from July to December, with a peak in singing intensity and courtship displays in August and September. Female reproductive period begins in August and ends in December. Like many Pipridae, males and females are non-monogamous and can have multiple mates. During the breeding season males frequent multiple leks to perform for different females. Mixed-paternity has been documented in chicks from the same nest, indicating females may choose multiple mates. In the wet season males establish feeding territories and defend them from other males. In the dry season, when food is less abundant, territorial boundaries dissipate and

home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. He ...

overlap between individuals increases. Subadult males occasionally sing and engage in territorial behaviour. Home ranges of males and females are large (on average 16 to 20 hectares during the breeding season) and overlap considerably with one another. Like all members of Pipridae male helmeted manakins gather in

leks A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...

during the mating season where they perform a courtship display for an onlooking female. The female helmeted manakin initiates the courtship display with short call. Up to six prospective males gather in a single lek in the forest canopy. The helmeted manakin's mating display is unusually subdued for a Pipridae, a family characterized by their complex and flashy courtship performances. The male birds initiate a series of chase-flights, during which they disappear into the canopy in mutual pursuit. After completing a circuit the males return to the lek before repeating the chase-flight performance again. Subadult males have been observed participating in courtship displays. Nests are bowl-shaped and assembled from twigs and roots. The outside of the nest is decorated with dry leaves while the inside is lined with shitaki fungus. Nests are typically constructed up to 3m off the ground in shrubs or other vegetation. Nests are usually secured within a forked branch and are attached using

spider silk Spider silk is a protein fibre spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. They can ...

. Clutches always consist of two eggs, which are yellowish-white in colour with irregular spots, blotches or streaks. Males contribute no parental care; females are solely responsible for constructing and cleaning the nest.

References

External links

* *
Helmeted manakin videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Antilophia+galeata Photo-High Res* ttp://www.geometer.org/Brazil2006/images/HelmetedManakin.jpg Photo-High Res-(male)br>Article
geometer–"Brazil Birds"
Photo-Medium Res-(Male)
chandra.as.utexas.edu—''"Birds of Brazil"'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q74377 helmeted manakin Birds of the Cerrado Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Paraguay helmeted manakin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot