__NOTOC__ The spotted nothura (''Nothura maculosa'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

tinamou Tinamous () form an order of birds called Tinamiformes (), comprising a single family called Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" come ...

. This bird is native to grassy habitats in eastern and southern

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 ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and eastern and northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

.Clements, J. (2007)

Description

The spotted nothura is approximately in length. The upper parts are brown with streaked buff. The under parts are buff streaked with black and brown on the breast, with barring to the flanks. Its crown is black streaked with buff and the throat is white. The overall hue in colour varies greatly over its range; in part caused by the differences in soil at the specific localities. It and the closely related Chaco nothura, ''N. chacoensis'', are the only

nothura ''Nothura'' is a genus of birds in the tinamou family. This genus comprises five members of this South American family. Tinamous are paleognaths related to the flightless ratites. They are probably close in appearance to the flying ancestors o ...

s with barring to both webs of the

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. The legs are dull yellowish-grey or brown.

Behavior

The call of the spotted nothura is a series of brief high-pitched notes.

Feeding

The spotted nothura eats plants, typically seeds, and animal matter. In

they seem to eat more of the animal matter then they do in other locations.

Reproduction

This species can reproduce rapidly, as the female is mature within 2 months and can have five to six broods per year. The male does not mature as fast. The male will incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. Like most tinamous, its eggs have a spectacular glossy

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

-like shell. This is colored a rich maroon or chocolate

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

in this species. The clutch contains 4-6 eggs.

Taxonomy

All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003) Coenraad Jacob Temminck first identified the spotted nothura from a specimen from

, in 1815.

Subspecies

The spotted nothura has nine currently recognized subspecies. They are not well-distinguished and almost form a

cline Cline may refer to: Science * Cline (biology), a measurable gradient in a single trait in a species across its geographical range * Cline (hydrology), a fluid layer with a property that varies * Cline (mathematics) or generalised circle, a circl ...

that varies north to south according to Gloger's and Bergmann's Rules. * ''N. m. maculosa'' occurs in southeastern

, northeastern

, eastern

, and

. * ''N. m. major'' occurs in interior east central Brazil;

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goi ...

, and

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

States. * ''N. m. nigroguttata'' occurs on the plains of south central Argentina; Rio Negro and southeastern

Neuquén Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén river ...

Provinces. * ''N. m. cearensis'' occurs in northeastern Brazil; southern Ceará State. * ''N. m. paludivaga'' occurs in central Paraguay and north central Argentina. * ''N. m. annectens'' occurs on the moist grasslands of eastern Argentina. * ''N. m. submontana'' occurs in the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

foothills of southwestern Argentina, Neuquén, Rio Negro, and Chubut Provinces. * ''N. m. pallida'' occurs in the moist chaco grasslands of northwestern Argentina. * ''N. m. chacoensis'', Chaco nothura, located in northwestern

and north central

Range

It occurs in eastern and southern

(excluding the

Mata Atlântica The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and the ...

and planalto uplands along the coast),

, and

Habitat

It lives in dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

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 ...

up to , and temperate

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

, as well as pasture land.Bencke, G. (2007)BirdLife International (2008)

Conservation

The IUCN list this tinamou as

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 ...

, even though it is avidly hunted, due to its fast reproduction rate. It has an occurrence range of .

Footnotes

References

*Bencke, Glayson Ariel (2007): ''Avifauna atual do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil: aspectos biogeográficos e distribucionais'' '"The Recent avifauna of Rio Grande do Sul: Biogeographical and distributional aspects"'' Talk held on 2007-JUN-22 at ''Quaternário do RS: integrando conhecimento'', Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
PDF abstract
* * * *

External links

Spotted Nothura videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Nothura+maculosa Photo-High Res {{Taxonbar, from=Q847190 Nothura Birds of South America Birds of the Cerrado Birds of Paraguay Birds of Uruguay Birds of Argentina Birds of Brazil Tinamous of South America Birds described in 1815

Description

Behavior

Feeding

Reproduction

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Range

Habitat

Conservation

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links