The red-capped manakin (''Ceratopipra mentalis'') 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 Pipridae. It is found in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

. The bird is probably best known for the male's unusual courting method whereby he shuffles rapidly backwards across a branch, akin to a speedy

moonwalk Moonwalk may refer to: Space travel * Moonwalk, an excursion on the Moon, see Moon landing ** For a specific event, see List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 ** For a specific person, see List of people who have walked on the Moon *Extraveh ...

Taxonomy

The red-capped manakin was formally described and illustrated in 1857 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater based on specimen collected by

Auguste Sallé Auguste Sallé (1820 – 5 May 1896, Paris) was a French traveller and entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera. Following expeditions to the Southern States of the USA, the West Indies, Central America (especially Mexico), and Venezuela on beh ...

in Córdoba, Veracruz, southern Mexico. Sclater placed the species in the genus ''

Pipra ''Pipra'' is a genus of birds in the manakin family Pipridae. Taxonomy and species list The genus ''Pipra'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1764. The name was used by Ancient Greek authors such as Aristotle for a small ...

'' and coined the

binomial name 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 ...

''Pipra mentalis''. The specific epithet ''mentalis'' is

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 ...

meaning "pertaining to the chin". The red-capped manakin was moved to the genus ''

Ceratopipra ''Ceratopipra'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Pipridae. Taxonomy The genus ''Ceratopipra'' was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854 with the scarlet-horned manakin as the type species. The name '' ...

'' when

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies found that ''Pipra'' was non-monophyletic. It is closely related to, and in eastern Panama sometimes hybridizes with, the

golden-headed manakin The golden-headed manakin (''Ceratopipra erythrocephala'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America in both wet and dry forests, secondary growth and plantations. It is a small manakin, about long. Males are e ...

. Three

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognized subspecies: * ''Ceratopipra mentalis mentalis'' (

Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society o ...

, PL, 1857) – southeast Mexico to east Costa Rica * ''Ceratopipra mentalis ignifera'' (

Bangs Bang or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a List of model car brands, model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Lorestan, a village in I ...

, 1901) – west Costa Rica and west Panama * ''Ceratopipra mentalis minor'' (

Hartert Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published German ornithologist. Life and career Hartert was born in Hamburg, Germany on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married the illustrator Claudia Bernadine E ...

, 1898) – east Panama, west Colombia and northwest Ecuador

Description

The red-capped manakin is a small passerine, measuring in length and weighing . The male is velvety black apart from a bright red head and nape, bright yellow thighs, and a pale yellow chin and wing linings. The female is olive green above, with paler, more yellow-green underparts. Both sexes have dull brown legs. The male's irides are white, while those of the female and young are brown. While the adult male is distinctive, the female and youngsters can be confused with several similar species. The male

golden-collared manakin The golden-collared manakin (''Manacus vitellinus'') is a species of bird in the family Pipridae. It is found in Colombia and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest. Re ...

is larger, and has orange (rather than brown) legs, while the female velvety manakin is a brighter green (rather than olive).

Habitat and range

Found primarily in humid forest and second growth woodland, the red-capped manakin typically occurs below above sea level, though it sometimes ranges as high as . Most are resident, but some individuals are known to migrate to take advantage of changing food resources: the number of red-capped manakins caught in mist nets at La Selva Biological Reserve, in eastern

, tripled in January and February, when a favored fruit ripened, for example, while the number caught at a nearby higher elevation site (where the fruits were not found) dropped to zero.

Behavior

Food and feeding

The red-capped manakin is a

frugivore 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 ...

, feeding almost exclusively on fruits. These pass very quickly through the bird's digestive system, typically taking less than 18 minutes to process. Seeds from a variety of plants are consumed; one study in Costa Rica found evidence of 70 species, including those from the genera '' Clidemia'', '' Hampea'', ''

Henriettea ''Henriettea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae, with some 399 species accepted. It is distributed in the Americas.

'', '' Leandra'', ''

Miconia ''Miconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall. The generic name ...

'', '' Ossaea'', ''

Pinzona ''Pinzona'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Dilleniaceae. It only contains one known species, ''Pinzona coriacea'' Mart. & Zucc. Its native range is Tropical America. It is found in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil (northe ...

'' and ''

Psychotria ''Psychotria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It contains 1,582 species and is therefore one of the largest genera of flowering plants. The genus has a pantropical distribution and members of the genus are small understor ...

'', in the fecal droppings of red-capped manakins.

Notes

References

External links

Animated .gif of the "moonwalk"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075187 red-capped manakin Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Belize Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of Ecuador red-capped manakin red-capped manakin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot