The dwarf tinamou (''Taoniscus nanus'') also known as the least tinamou, is a small, superficially

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They a ...

-like bird with short

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...

and

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

Taxonomy and systematics

All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also

ratite A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

s. 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) The dwarf tinamou is the only member of the genus ''Taoniscus'' and is a monotypic species. A phylogenetic study published in 2022 found that the dwarf tinamou was embedded within the genus ''

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 ...

''.

Description

It is approximately long. It is greyish-brown with a pale throat, boldly patterned neck and upper parts, and it has brown-barred buff underparts and a blackish crown. Some individuals are significantly darker and greyer than others, but it remains unclear if these

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

variations are morphs or differences between the sexes. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

and legs are dull yellowish. It resembles a small dumpy

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 ...

, but is more easily confused with the

ocellated crake The ocellated crake (''Micropygia schomburgkii'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae that is placed in the monotypic genus ''Micropygia''. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surin ...

Vocalizations

Its

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

consists of high-pitched cricket-like trills followed by ''peet'' notes.

Distribution and habitat

The dwarf tinamou is found in the arid scrub

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 natur ...

s, around in

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

, restricted to the

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 t ...

region of interior southeastern

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 ...

Clements, J. (2007) in

Distrito Federal A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they ...

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 Goiânia. ...

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 ...

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

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 GaWC a ...

and formerly Paraná. Specimens ''were'' also known from

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 ...

(

Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...

) and

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 ...

(the Río Bermejo in either Chaco or

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

), but all recent records are from Brazil. It is, however, highly inconspicuous and easily overlooked.

Behaviour and ecology

Feeding

The diet of the dwarf tinamou consists mainly of

grass seed Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

s or other

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s 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 ...

Threats

The dwarf tinamou is currently threatened by the ongoing

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by

mechanised agriculture Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, po ...

, intensive cattle-ranching,

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests a ...

, invasive grasses, excessive use of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

s and annual burning. It is also

hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, et ...

ed by people for food in some areas. Farming and ranching are its largest threats. The dwarf tinamou is evaluated as Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of Threatened Species. It has an occurrence range of , and the last population estimate, done in 2000, showed between 5,800 and 6,960 adults.BirdLife International (2008)

Status

The dwarf tinamou is currently being conserved in three protected areas:

Serra da Canastra National Park Serra (Latin for " saw") may refer to: People * Serra (footballer) (born 1961), Portuguese footballer * Serra (surname) * Serra (given name) Cities, towns, municipalities Brazil *Serra, Espírito Santo, a city in the Greater Vitória area *Ampa ...

, Itapetininga Experimental Station and the

IBGE Roncador Biological Reserve The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistics, statistical, geographic, cartography, cartographic, Geodetic syste ...

. Several areas adjacent to the Río Bermejo,

, have been surveyed with the aid of tape-playback, but the species has not been found. It was also proposed to survey

Serra do Cipó National Park The Serra do Cipó National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó) is a national park in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Location The park is in the Cerrado biome. It covers . It was created by decree 90.223 of 25 September 1984, modifi ...

Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros) is a national park of Brazil located in the state of Goiás, on the top of an ancient plateau with an estimated age of 1.8 billion years. The park was created on ...

and

Emas National Park The Emas National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional das Emas, literally meaning " Rhea National Park") is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. Description The National Park is locat ...

specifically for this species with the aid of tape-playback. And conduct further surveys in Argentina and Paraguay in the areas where the specimen was collected. It was also proposed to determine best management practices for existing protected areas and control the burning of

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 t ...

habitats.

Footnotes

References

* * *

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q248520

dwarf tinamou The dwarf tinamou (''Taoniscus nanus'') also known as the least tinamou, is a small, superficially partridge-like bird with short tail and wings. Taxonomy and systematics All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are ...

Birds of the Cerrado Birds of Brazil

Tinamous