Ruspoli's turaco (''Menelikornis ruspolii''), also known as Prince Ruspoli's turaco, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Musophagidae The turacos make up the bird family Musophagidae ( "banana-eaters"), which includes '' plantain-eaters'' and '' go-away-birds''. In southern Africa both turacos and go-away-birds are commonly known as loeries. They are semi-zygodactylous: the ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to southern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

where its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

is subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Taxonomy

The species was first collected by Eugenio Ruspoli in either 1892 or 1893, but due to his subsequent death, the location and date of this find remain unknown. However, his collection was examined by T. Salvadori, who named the bird in his honor.

Habitat

Prince Ruspoli's Turaco, also known as Tauraco ruspolii, is primarily found in

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

(Juniperus)

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

accompanied by dense evergreen undergrowth near

Arero Arero is a woreda in Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Part of the Borena Zone, Arero is bordered on the southwest by Dire, on the west by Yabelo, on the north by Bule Hora, on the northeast by the Guji Zone, on the east by the Somali Region, and on the ...

and Wadera. However, it is believed that this elusive bird species has a preference for drier forest edges, acacia-conifer woodland, and mixed broadleaf scrub. It typically inhabits elevations ranging from 1250 to 1860 meters above sea level.

References

External links

* *
BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1186772 Ruspoli's turaco Turacos Endemic birds of Ethiopia Ruspoli's turaco Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN