The bare-necked umbrellabird (''Cephalopterus glabricollis'') is a species of
bird in the family
Cotingidae. It is found in the
Talamancan montane forests
The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America.
Setting
The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mounta ...
of
Costa Rica 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 Cost ...
. Bare-necked umbrellabirds live only in forests and their diet consists mainly of fruits.
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 ...
s are
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 ...
and subtropical or tropical moist
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 ...
. It is threatened by
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 ...
.
Taxonomy and systematics
The bare-necked umbrellabird is one of three species in the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...
''
Cephalopterus'', commonly known as the umbrellabirds. It was first described by
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...
in 1851, on the basis of specimens collected by Warzewickz at elevations of in
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 Cost ...
. The generic name ''Cephalopterus'' comes from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
κεφαλη (''kephalē''), meaning head, and πτερος (''pteros''), meaning feathered, referring to the head plumes of the
Amazonian umbrellabird. The
specific epithet
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 ...
''glabricollis'' is from the
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 ...
''glaber'', meaning bald, and ''collis'', meaning necked. It is monotypic.
Description
The bare-necked umbrellabird is a large, bulky, and crow-like bird, being the largest
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by ...
in its range. It is also among the largest of the
cotinga
The cotingas are a large family, Cotingidae, of suboscine passerine birds found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, that are primary frugivorous. They all have broad bills with hooked tip ...
s, with only the Amazonian umbrellabird being larger. The males are larger than the females, being in length and weighing , compared to the females' and .
Distribution and habitat
The bare-necked umbrellabird is found in
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 Cost ...
,
Costa Rica, and southern
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 countr ...
. It inhabits the
subcanopy
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns.
In forest ecology, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns an ...
to
upper understory of
primary forest
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
throughout its range, although some birds have been seen foraging in
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. ...
. It can also be found in areas with dense understory and near fruiting trees. The species follows an annual
altitudinal migration
Altitudinal migration is a short-distance animal migration from lower altitudes to higher altitudes and back. Altitudinal migrants change their elevation with the seasons making this form of animal migration seasonal. Altitudinal migration can be m ...
based on fruit availability, with most of the year being spent in lowlands between elevations of for males and at for females. During the breeding season between March–June, umbrellabird populations move higher up to elevations of , coinciding with the highest fruit availability in these areas.
Behavior and ecology
Diet
The bare-necked umbrellabird is mainly frugivorous, feeding on
Marcgraviaceae
The Marcgraviaceae are a neotropical angiosperm family in the order Ericales. The members of the family are shrubs, woody epiphytes, and lianas, with alternate, pinnately nerved leaves. The flowers are arranged in racemes. The flowers are accompa ...
,
Urticaceae
The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeri ...
,
Arecaceae
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...
,
Lauraceae
Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur mai ...
and
Annonaceae
The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Mag ...
berries, along with other fruits. It has also been known to feed on
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of Squamata, squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbae ...
s,
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
s,
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 of ...
s and
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
Th ...
e. Fruits are plucked from vegetation in flight or gleaned with heavy hops. A juvenile was also observed eating
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, o ...
s that were flushed out by a swarm of
army ants in Costa Rica.
Breeding
Breeding occurs between March and June in Costa Rica and between April and September in Panama. Like other cotingas, male bare-necked umbrellabirds perform leks to attract females.
Status
It is listed as
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and invas ...
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 biologi ...
. Its global population is estimated to be less than 2,500 mature individuals and decreasing.
References
Cited text
Chaves-Campos, J., Arévalo, J., & Araya, M. (2003). Altitudinal movements and conservation of Bare-necked Umbrellabird Cephalopterus glabricollis of the Tilarán Mountains, Costa Rica. Bird Conservation International, 13(1), 45–58. doi:10.1017/S0959270903003046
Further reading
*
Snow, D.W. (1982). ''The Cotingas: Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies.'' British Museum Press.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q671212
bare-necked umbrellabird
Birds of the Talamancan montane forests
bare-necked umbrellabird
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot