The violet-backed starling (''Cinnyricinclus leucogaster''), also known as the plum-coloured starling or amethyst starling, is a relatively small species (17 cm) of
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus '' Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...
in the family
Sturnidae. It is the only member of the
genus ''Cinnyricinclus''. This strongly
sexually dimorphic species is found widely in the woodlands and savannah forest edges of mainland
sub-Saharan Africa. It is rarely seen on the ground, but instead found in trees and other locations away from the ground.
Taxonomy
The violet-backed starling was described by the French polymath
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1775 in his ''
Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by
François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist.
Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology. Notable in particular are those for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synop ...
in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of
Edme-Louis Daubenton
Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist.
Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to s ...
to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist
Pieter Boddaert
Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and naturalist.
Early life, family and education
Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D. at the Unive ...
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 ...
''Turdus leucogaster'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The
type locality is
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
in West Africa. The violet-backed starling is now the only species placed in the
genus ''Cinnyricinclus'' that was introduced by the French naturalist
René Lesson
René-Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist.
Biography
Lesson was born at Rochefort, and entered the Naval Medical School in Rochefort at the age of sixteen. H ...
in 1840.
The violet-backed starling was designated as the
type species by the English naturalist
George Robert Gray
George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother ...
in 1855. The genus name is combines ''
Cinnyris
''Cinnyris'' is a genus of sunbirds. Its members are sometimes included in ''Nectarinia''. They are generally known as double-collared sunbirds because the fringe of their bib usually includes a band of contrastingly coloured feathers.
The sunb ...
'', a genus of
sunbirds
Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...
that had been introduced by the French naturalist
Georges Cuvier in 1816, and the
New Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy a ...
''cinclus'' meaning "thrush". The specific ''leucogaster'' is from the
Ancient Greek '' leukos'' meaning "white" and ''gastēr'' meaning "belly".
Three
subspecies are recognised:
[
* ''C. l. leucogaster'' (]Boddaert
Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and naturalist.
Early life, family and education
Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D. at the Univers ...
, 1783) – Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania
* ''C. l. arabicus'' Grant, CHB & Mackworth-Praed, 1942 – east Sudan to northwest Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula
* ''C. l. verreauxi'' ( Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870) – south DR Congo to west Tanzania south to Botswana, northeast South Africa and Mozambique
Description
The violet-backed starling is a sexually dimorphic species with adults reaching a length of about . The male has an iridescent violet head and back and pure white underparts. The female has a thrush-like appearance with brown, boldly-streaked upper parts and white, heavily-streaked underparts. Both sexes have yellow irises and black bills and legs.
Distribution and habitat
The violet-backed starling is a common bird in Sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in most locations with the exception of the dense rainforest of the Congo Basin
The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It c ...
, and the more arid parts of southwestern Africa. It is found in open woodland, gallery forests, forest verges and clearings. In the Chyulu Hills of Kenya, it occurs at altitudes up to .[
]
Behaviour
The diet of the violet-backed starling includes fruits, seeds and arthropods. It sometimes hawks for insects in a manner similar to flycatchers. It largely feeds in the canopy, seldom foraging on the ground.[ The nest is usually located in a crevice in a tree within a few metres of the ground. Nesting material includes green leaves and dung. The female will incubate the clutch of two to four eggs, which are pale blue with reddish/brown spots, for 12–14 days. The male will help feed chicks until they fledge after about 21 days.][
]
Gallery
File:Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Pilanesberg 11.jpg, Male violet-backed starling, Pilanesberg NP, South Africa
File:Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Limpopo, South Africa 1.jpg, At Limpopo, South Africa
File:Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Pilanesberg 6.jpg, Female violet-backed starling, Pilanesberg NP, South Africa
References
External links
"Plumcoloured Starling"
''The Atlas of Southern African Birds''.
Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the violet-backed starling
{{Taxonbar, from=Q694756
Violet-backed starling
Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa
Violet-backed starling
Taxa named by Pieter Boddaert
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot