The purplish-backed quail-dove (''Zentrygon lawrencii'') 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

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The purplish-backed quail-dove 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 ...

. However, the population of it in northwestern Costa Rica was at one time considered a subspecies. The purplish-backed quail-dove and the

Tuxtla quail-dove The Tuxtla quail-dove (''Zentrygon carrikeri'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to southeastern Mexico. Taxonomy and systematics The Tuxtla quail-dove is monotypic. It and the purplish-backed quail-dove (''Zentryg ...

(''Zentrygon carrikeri'') of Mexico were previously considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

. Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Purplish-backed Quail-Dove (''Zentrygon lawrencii''), 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.pbqdov1.01 retrieved September 23, 2021

Description

Male purplish-backed quail-doves are long and females are about long. The species weighs about . Adults have a grayish white forehead and a bluish to greenish gray crown, nape, and hindneck. The mantle is dull purple and the rest of the upperparts and the wings are olive-brown to blackish brown with some reddish tinge. The central tail feathers are purple-brown and the outer ones blackish with gray tips. The face and throat are white with a black malar line and a line from the bill to the eye. The neck and breast are slate gray with greenish sides, the belly center pale buff to cinnamon, and the flanks chocolate. The eye is browish orange to red surrounded by bare magenta skin. The legs and feet are also magenta. The juvenile lacks the green and purple of the mantle, its facial pattern is less conspicuous, and most feathers have buff fringes.

Distribution and habitat

The purplish-backed quail-dove is resident from the

Cordillera de Guanacaste The Cordillera de Guanacaste, also called Guanacaste Cordillera, are a volcanic mountain range in northern Costa Rica near the border with Nicaragua. The mountain range stretches 110 km from northwest to the southeast and contains mostly comp ...

in northern Costa Rica southeast to central Panama with scattered populations from there to

Darién Province Darién (, , ) is a province in Panama whose capital city is La Palma. With an area of , it is located at the eastern end of the country and bordered to the north by the province of Panamá and the region of Kuna Yala. To the south, it is border ...

. It inhabits cool, wet, dense

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 ...

. In elevation it ranges from on the Caribbean slope but as high as in some other areas.

Behavior

Movement

The purplish-backed quail-dove usually walks or runs from danger rather than flying, though it sometimes will fly to an elevated perch.

Feeding

The purplish-backed quail-dove forages on the ground, usually singly or in pairs. It feeds on fruit, seeds, insects, and worms.

Breeding

The purplish-backed quail-dove's breeding season in Costa Rica spans from June to October but apparently starts earlier in Panama. It builds a bulky but loose nest as a shallow bowl of sticks lined with finer materials and places it in dense vegetation near the ground. It lays a single egg.

Vocalization

The purplish-backed quail-dove's song is a "three-syllable note ''pum-wha-huUUu'', with a clear emphasis on the last syllable." The last syllable is all that is usually heard at a distance.

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 purplish-backed quail-dove as being of Least Concern. Though it appears to be fairly common, it "could become threatened if forest habitat continues to be destroyed at present rates".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27074686

purplish-backed quail-dove The purplish-backed quail-dove (''Zentrygon lawrencii'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The purplish-backed quail-dove is monotypic. However, the population of it ...

Birds of the Talamancan montane forests

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot