The lemon-throated barbet (''Eubucco richardsoni'') 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 New World barbet family

Capitonidae New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans. The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...

. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

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 ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The lemon-throated barbet as recognized by the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS), the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC), and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

has four subspecies: the nominate ''Eubucco richardsoni richardsoni'', ''E. r. nigriceps'', ''E. r. aurantiicollis'', and ''E. r. purusianus''.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019 Clements groups ''richardsoni'' and ''nigriceps'' as "lemon-throated" and the other two as "flame-throated" within the species. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's ''Birds of the World'' treats the two groups separately within its account of the lemon-throated barbet '' sensu lato''.del Hoyo, J., L.L. Short, N. Collar, J. F. M. Horne, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Lemon-throated Barbet (''Eubucco richardsoni''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.letbar1.01 retrieved May 26, 2021 At various times, including as recently as 2014, ''aurantiicollis'' has been treated as a separate species called flame-throated barbet.

Description

The "lemon-throated" barbet is approximately long and weighs . The male of the nominate subspecies has a red crown, gray-blue nape, and green upperparts. Its throat is yellow, the breast orange-red, and the belly and flanks greenish with dark streaks. The female is duller, with a gray-green crown, nape, and upperparts. Its throat is bluish, the breast orange-gold, and the underparts bluish yellow with dark streaks. The male ''E. r. nigriceps'' has a black crown and both sexes have blue-green upperparts. The "flame-throated" barbet is long and weighs , heavier than the two "lemon-throated" subspecies. ''E. r. aurantiicollis'' differs from the nominate by having a yellow nape, upperparts that are a yellower green, a more orange throat, and a redder breast. The female is similar to the nominate but less yellow in the throat and breast. The ''E. r. purusianus'' male is paler than the nominate and more pinkish on the breast. The female's breast band is the same orange-gold as the nominate's but narrower.

Distribution and habitat

The lemon-throated barbet is a bird of the western

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. The four subspecies are found thus: *''E. r. richardsoni'', from eastern Colombia's Arauca Department south and east through eastern Ecuador into northern Peru west of

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the ninth-most populous city of Peru. Iquitos is the largest city in the world th ...

. *''E. r. nigriceps'', from the lower Putumayo and

Napo River The Napo River ( es, Río Napo) is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. The total length is . The river drains an area of . The mean annual discha ...

s in northeastern Peru east to far western Amazonas, Brazil, north of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

. (One record further east in

Jaú National Park The Jaú National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Jaú) is a National park (Brazil), national park located in the state of Amazonas State, Brazil, Amazonas, Brazil. It is one of the largest forest reserve in South America, and part of a World Herita ...

) *''E. r. aurantiicollis'', from the area of the Marañón River in eastern Peru east to near the Juruá River south of the Amazon in western Brazil and south to northwestern Bolivia. *''E. r. purusianus'', western Brazil south of the Amazon from the Juruá River area east to the upper

Madeira River The Madeira River ( pt, Rio Madeira, link=no ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is ...

. All of the subspecies inhabit the same forest types, lowland

terra firme Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

and dense

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

and their edges and clearings. They also are found in the edges of várzea forest. They are more numerous in maturing forest near rivers and lakes than in fully mature forest. In elevation they range from the lowlands to in Colombia, in Ecuador, in Bolivia, and in Peru.

Behavior

Feeding

The diet of the "flame-throated" barbet is fruits and

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s, approximately evenly divided. It forages alone or in pairs from the canopy of the forest to within of the forest floor, but more commonly between . It also frequently joins

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. It spends more than one-third of its foraging time feeding on insects in dead leaf clusters. The "lemon throated" barbet's diet and foraging behavior have not been documented but are assumed to be very similar.

Breeding

The "lemon-throated" barbet's breeding season appears to be from April to November though it may begin in February. Its nest and eggs have not been described. The "flame-throated" barbet'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 ...

has not been studied, though its breeding season is believed to start earlier than that of the nominate subspecies.

Vocalization

The songs of the four lemon-throated barbet subspecies do not differ substantially. Their song is "soft double or usually triple 'hoo' notes in fast, trill-like series

Its calls are "various grunts and snarls

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 ...

treats ''Eubucco richardsoni'' and ''E. aurantiicollis'' as separate species and has assessed both as being of Least Concern. Though their populations are unknown and are believed to be decreasing, those criteria have not reached the values needed for a more critical rating. Both occur in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1268271

lemon-throated barbet The lemon-throated barbet (''Eubucco richardsoni'') is a species of bird in the New World barbet family Capitonidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The lemon-throated barbet as recognized ...

Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of Colombia Birds of Ecuador Birds of Peru

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot