Ramphocelus

Ramphocelus
Brazilian tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Ramphocelus
Desmarest, 1805
Type species
Tanagra bresilia
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

See species list

Ramphocelus is a Neotropical genus of birds of the tanager family. They have enlarged shiny whitish or bluish-grey lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in display. However, this is greatly reduced in the females of most species. Males are black and red, orange or yellow, while females resemble a duller version of the males, or are brownish or greyish combined with dull red, orange or yellowish.

Ramphocelus tanagers are found in semi-open areas. The nest is a cup built by the female of plant materials such as moss, rootlets, and strips of large leaves like banana or Heliconia, and is often in a fairly open site in a tree. The female usually lays pale blue eggs, with grey, brown or lavender spots, and the young stay in the nest for only about 12 days.

The songs of this genus are repetitions of rich one- or two-syllable whistles.

Ramphocelus tanagers hunt at forest edges or in second growth, taking insects in flight or picking them from leaves.

Taxonomy

The genus Ramphocelus was introduced by the French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1805.[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek words rhamphos "bill" and koilos "concave".[2] The type species was designated as the Brazilian tanager by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855.[3][4]

The other species form two superspecies. One includes crimson-backed, Huallaga, silver-beaked and Brazilian tanagers, and the other comprises Passerini's, Cherrie's and flame-rumped tanagers.

The subspecies icteronotus of the flame-rumped tanager is sometimes considered a separate species, and the lemon-rumped tanager, R. icteronotus, and Passerini's and Cherrie's tanager were formerly lumped as scarlet-rumped tanager, R. passerinii (a treatment some authorities still prefer).

Species in taxonomic order

The genus contains nine species:[5]

Genus Ramphocelus – Desmarest, 1805 – nine species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Crimson-collared tanager

Ramphocelus sanguinolentus
(Lesson, 1831) 		southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca in Mexico through the Atlantic slope of Central America,western Panama
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Masked crimson tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus nigrogularis
(Spix, 1825) 		Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Crimson-backed tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus dimidiatus
Lafresnaye, 1837 		Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela, and introduced to French Polynesia
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Huallaga tanager

Ramphocelus melanogaster
(Swainson, 1838) 		Peru
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Silver-beaked tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus carbo
(Pallas, 1764) 		South America from eastern Colombia and Venezuela south to Paraguay and central Brazil, Perú and on Trinidad
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Brazilian tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus bresilia
(Linnaeus, 1766) 		eastern Brazil and far northeastern Argentina
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Scarlet-rumped tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus passerinii
(Bonaparte, 1831) 		Caribbean lowlands from southern Mexico to western Panama
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Flame-rumped tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus flammigerus
(Jardine & Selby, 1833) 		Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Lemon-rumped tanager


Male
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Female

Ramphocelus icteronotus
Bonaparte, 1838 		Panama to Ecuador
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


References

  1. ^ Desmarest, Anselme Gaëtan (1805). Histoire naturelle des Tangaras, des Manakins et des Todiers (in French). Paris: Imprimarie de H. Perronneau. Plate 28 text.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 148.
  4. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 310.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Tanagers and allies". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2018.

Sources