Bananaquit

The bananaquit (''Coereba flaveola'') is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain and it was either placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, with New World warblers in the family Parulidae or in its own monotypic family Coerebidae. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas, and is generally common.

Taxonomy

The bananaquit was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Certhia flaveola''. Linnaeus based his description on the "black and yellow bird" described by John Ray and Hans Sloane, and the "Black and Yellow Creeper" described and illustrated by George Edwards in 1751. The bananaquit was reclassified as the only member of the genus ''Coereba'' by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1809. The genus name is of uncertain origin but may be from a Tupi name ''Güirá'' for a small black and yellow bird. The specific epithet ''flaveolus'' is a diminutive of the Latin ''flavus'' meaning "golden" or "yellow".

Before the development of techniques to sequence DNA, the relationship of the bananaquit to other species was uncertain. It was variously placed with the New World warblers in the family Parulidae, with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, or in its own monotypic family Coerebidae. Based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies, the bananaquit is now placed in the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs with Darwin's finches to the subfamily Coerebinae.

It is still unclear if any of the island subspecies should be elevated to species, but phylogenetic studies have revealed three clades: the nominate group from Jamaica, Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands, the ''bahamensis'' group from the Bahamas and Quintana Roo, and the ''bartholemica'' group from South and Central America, Mexico (except Quintana Roo), the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico. Several taxa were not sampled, but most of these are easily placed in the above groups based on zoogeography alone. Exceptions are ''oblita'' ( San Andrés Island) and ''tricolor'' (Providencia Island), and their placement is therefore uncertain. In February 2010, the International Ornithological Congress listed ''bahamensis'' and ''bartholemica'' as proposed splits from ''C. flaveola''.

Subspecies

There are 41 currently recognized subspecies:

* ''C. f. bahamensis'' ( Reichenbach, 1853): Bahamas
* ''C. f. caboti'' ( Baird, 1873): east Yucatan Peninsula and nearby islands
* ''C. f. flaveola'' (Linnaeus, 1758): nominate, Jamaica
* ''C. f. sharpei'' ( Cory, 1886): Cayman Is.
* ''C. f. bananivora'' ( Gmelin, 1789): Hispaniola and nearby islands
* ''C. f. nectarea'' Wetmore, 1929: Tortue I.
* ''C. f. portoricensis'' ( Bryant, 1866): Puerto Rico
* ''C. f. sanctithomae'' ( Sundevall, 1869): north Virgin Is.
* ''C. f. newtoni'' (Baird, 1873): Saint Croix (south Virgin Is.)
* ''C. f. bartholemica'' ( Sparrman, 1788): north and central Lesser Antilles
* ''C. f. martinicana'' (Reichenbach, 1853): Martinique and Saint Lucia (south central Lesser Antilles)
* ''C. f. barbadensis'' (Baird, 1873): Barbados
* ''C. f. atrata'' (Lawrence, 1878): St. Vincent (south Lesser Antilles)
* ''C. f. aterrima'' (Lesson, 1830): Grenada and the Grenadines (south Lesser Antilles)
* ''C. f. uropygialis'' von Berlepsch, 1892: Aruba and Curaçao ( Netherlands Antilles)
* ''C. f. tricolor'' ( Ridgway, 1884): Providencia I. (off east Nicaragua)
* ''C. f. oblita'' Griscom, 1923: San Andrés I. (off east Nicaragua)
* ''C. f. mexicana'' ( Sclater, 1857): southeastern Mexico to western Panama
* ''C. f. cerinoclunis'' Bangs, 1901: Pearl Is. (south of Panama)
* ''C. f. columbiana'' (Cabanis, 1866): eastern Panama to southwestern Colombia and southern Venezuela
* ''C. f. bonairensis'' Voous, 1955: Bonaire I. (Netherlands Antilles)
* ''C. f. melanornis'' Phelps & Phelps, 1954: Cayo Sal I. (off Venezuela)
* ''C. f. lowii'' Cory, 1909: Los Roques Is. (off Venezuela)
* ''C. f. ferryi'' Cory, 1909: La Tortuga I. (off Venezuela)
* ''C. f. frailensis'' Phelps & Phelps, 1946: Los Frailes and Los Hermanos Is. (off Venezuela)
* ''C. f. laurae'' Lowe, 1908: Los Testigos (off Venezuela)
* ''C. f. luteola'' (Cabanis, 1850): coastal northern Colombia and Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago
* ''C. f. obscura'' Cory, 1913: northeastern Colombia and western Venezuela
* ''C. f. minima'' ( Bonaparte, 1854): eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela to French Guiana and north central Brazil
* ''C. f. montana'' Lowe, 1912: Andes of northwestern Venezuela
* ''C. f. caucae'' Chapman, 1914: western Colombia
* ''C. f. gorgonae'' Thayer & Bangs, 1905: Gorgona I. (off western Colombia)
* ''C. f. intermedia'' ( Salvadori & Festa, 1899): southwestern Colombia, western Ecuador and northern Peru east to southern Venezuela and western Brazil
* ''C. f. bolivari'' Zimmer & Phelps, 1946: eastern Venezuela
* ''C. f. guianensis'' (Cabanis, 1850): southeastern Venezuela to Guyana
* ''C. f. roraimae'' Chapman, 1929: tepui regions of southeastern Venezuela, southwestern Guyana and northern Brazil
* ''C. f. pacifica'' Lowe, 1912: eastern Peru
* ''C. f. magnirostris'' ( Taczanowski, 1880): northern Peru
* ''C. f. dispar'' Zimmer, 1942: north central Peru to western Bolivia
* ''C. f. chloropyga'' (Cabanis, 1850): east central Peru to central Bolivia and east to eastern Brazil, northern Uruguay, northeastern Argentina and Paraguay
* ''C. f. alleni'' Lowe, 1912: eastern Bolivia to central Brazil

Subspecies gallery

Two Bananaquits (4458804963).jpg, ''C. f. aterrima'' ("normal" and dark morph), Grenada
Coereba flaveola -Andros, Bahamas-8 (1).jpg, ''C. f. bahamensis'', Bahamas
Coereba flaveola ( Sucrier à ventre jaune ).jpg, ''C. f. bartholemica'', Guadeloupe
Flickr - Dario Sanches - CAMBACICA (Coereba flaveola) (8).jpg, ''C. f. chloropyga'', São Paulo, Brazil
Coereba flaveola flaveola, Orange Bay, Jamaica 1.jpg, ''C. f. flaveola'', Jamaica
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola luteola).jpg, ''C. f. luteola'', Trinidad
Bananaquit (7060538435).jpg, ''C. f. mexicana'', Costa Rica
Bananaquit 01-2010g PuertoRico.jpg, ''C. f. portoricensis'', Puerto Rico
Banaquit, StJohn2 RWD.jpg, ''C. f. sanctithomae'', Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Description

The bananaquit is a small bird, although there is some degree of size variation across the various subspecies. Length can range from . Weight ranges from .

Most subspecies of the bananaquit have dark grey (almost black) upperparts, black crown and sides of the head, a prominent white eyestripe, grey throat, white vent, and yellow chest, belly and rump. Coloration is heavily influenced by melanocortin 1 receptor variation.

The sexes are alike, but juveniles are duller and often have a partially yellow eyebrow and throat.

In the subspecies ''bahamensis'' and ''caboti'' from the Bahamas and Cozumel, respectively, the throat and upper chest are white or very pale grey, while ''ferryi'' from La Tortuga Island has a white forehead. The subspecies ''laurae'', ''lowii'' and ''melanornis'' from small islands off northern Venezuela are overall blackish, while the subspecies ''aterrima'' and ''atrata'' from Grenada and Saint Vincent have two plumage morphs, one "normal" and another blackish. The pink gape is usually very prominent in the subspecies from islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The tongue is paddle-shaped, with an extremely long paddle section.

Distribution and habitat

It is resident in tropical South America north to southern Mexico and the Caribbean. It is found throughout the West Indies, except for Cuba. Birds from the Bahamas are rare visitors to Florida.

It occurs in a wide range of open to semi-open habitats, including gardens and parks, but it is rare or absent in deserts, dense forests (e.g. large parts of the Amazon rainforest) and at altitudes above .

Behaviour and ecology

The bananaquit has a slender, curved bill, adapted to taking nectar from flowers, including mistletoes. Nectivory is probably an independent innovation in ''Coereba''. Since then ''C. flaveola''s tongue shape has shown convergent evolution with other birds feeding on the same flowers, and its source flowers have shown convergence to accommodate its tongue. It sometimes pierces flowers from the side, taking the nectar without pollinating the plant - known as nectar robbing. It also feeds on fruits - including mistletoe fruits and ripe bananas (hence the common name and ''bananivora'' for the Hispaniolan subspecies). It has been observed taking fruits' sweet juices by puncturing fruit with its beak, and will eat small insects and other small arthropods on occasion. While feeding, the bananaquit must always perch, as it cannot hover like a hummingbird.

The bananaquit is known for its ability to adjust remarkably to human environments. It often visits gardens and may become very tame. Its nickname, the sugar bird, comes from its affinity for bowls or bird feeders stocked with granular sugar, a common method of attracting these birds. The bananaquit builds a spherical lined nest with a side entrance hole, laying up to three eggs, which are incubated solely by the female. It may also build its nest in human-made objects, such as lampshades and garden trellises. The birds breed all year regardless of season and build new nests throughout the year.

References

Literature cited

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Further reading

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External links

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Bananaquit Stamps
(with range map) a
bird-stamps.org
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{{Taxonbar , from=Q228125

Thraupidae
Birds of Central America
Birds of the Caribbean
Birds of the Dominican Republic
Birds of South America
Birds described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus