Bronze-winged jacana | |
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Bronze-winged jacana | |
Call | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Jacanidae |
Genus: | Metopidius Wagler, 1832 |
Species: | M. indicus |
Binomial name | |
Metopidius indicus (Latham, 1790) | |
Synonyms | |
Parra indicaprotonym |
The bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It is found across South and Southeast Asia and is the sole species in the genus Metopidius. Like other jacanas it forages on lilies and other floating aquatic vegetation, using its long feet and legs for balance. The sexes are alike but females are slightly larger and are polyandrous, maintaining a harem of males during the breeding season in the monsoon rains. Males maintain territories, with one male in the harem chosen to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. When threatened, young chicks may be carried to safety by the male under his wings.
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Phylogeny of the Jacanidae based on an analysis of mitochondrial gene sequences [2] |
The bronze-winged jacana was formally described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1790 and given the binomial name Parra indica. He placed it in the genus Parra along with all the other jacanas. [3] [4] Latham had earlier included the species in a supplement to his A General Synopsis of Birds but had not coined a scientific name. [5] The present genus Metopidius was introduced by the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. [6] The bronze-winged jacana is the only species within the genus. [7] The name Metopidius is from the Ancient Greek word metōpidios meaning "on the forehead", referring to the frontal lappet. The specific epithet indicus is the Latin word for "Indian". [8] There are no recognised subspecies. [9]
Like other jacanas it has 10 tail feathers and the oil gland is tufted. [10] Many jacana species have a carpal spur that is used in territorial fights. In some species the spur is reduced but the wing bones are modified. The carpal spur is reduced to a tubercle in the bronze-winged jacana. In the genera Actophilornis , and Irediparra the radius bone is flattened and blade-like (and associated with a reduced spur [11] ) and is thought to be an adaptation either for territorial combat, or for brooding eggs and carrying young under the wings. [12] [13] [2] In Metopidius, the radius curves and diverges to form a broad gap between the radius and ulna. [14] Male jacanas, based on observations in the African jacana, incubate eggs and move their forewings under the eggs so as to hold them between the body and the wing. This behaviour known as wing-brooding may be aided by the flattened radius bone. [15]
Bronze-winged jacanas are rail-like, large, short tailed birds that appear dark at a distance except for the supercilium. [16] They are 29 cm (11 in) in length. The sexes are similar but the females are slightly larger than the males. [17] The wings are bronzy brown with a green sheen and have a reduced tubercular carpal spur. [16] The head, neck and breast are black and contrast with the broad white supercilium that runs from over the eye to the back of the neck. The lower back and tail coverts are chestnut. The tail is stubby and reddish brown with black terminal band. The greenish yellow bill has a red-base to the upper mandible. A lappet or frontal shield extends up over the forehead and is reddish purple. The legs are greenish. The toes are long and the straight and the elongated nail on the hind toe is longer than the toe. [17] Downy chicks are light brown with a dark stripe running down the nape. [9] [18] Young birds have brown upperparts, a rufous crown, white underparts, a buff foreneck, an undeveloped frontal shield, and may have a dull supercilium. [19] Adults can be confused at a distance with the common moorhen (which is found in similar habitat) [20] and with the watercock and while young can appear similar to the young of the pheasant-tailed jacana, they lack the black necklace seen in that species. [21]
Measurements of 43 males and 25 females from southern India [22] | ||
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Measurement (± s.e.) | Males | Females |
mass (g) | 176.2 ± 1.68 | 282.4 ± 5.22 |
bill (mm) | 22.5 ± 0.96 | 25.1 ± 0.15 |
shield height (mm) | 22.5 ± 0.17 | 24.1 ± 0.34 |
wing (mm) | 162 ± 0.46 | 189 ± 1.03 |
tarsus (mm) | 70.2 ± 0.36 | 78.6 ± 0.60 |
tail (mm) | 45.5 ± 0.47 | 51.2 ± 0.73 |
The species is widely distributed across the Indian Subcontinent (but not Sri Lanka or western Pakistan) and Southeast Asia mainly in low elevations. Both this species and the pheasant-tailed jacana may be found in the same habitat. It is sedentary apart from seasonal dispersal in response to drought and rains. [19] They are able to use wetlands covered in introduced weeds such as water hyacinth and make use of the cover provided by Ipomoea aquatica when breeding. [23]
Bronze-winged jacanas are found singly or in pairs foraging on aquatic vegetation. They balance on their long legs and long toes, and feed on plant material (claimed to be purely incidental [24] ), insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water's surface. Call is a wheezy piping seek-seek-seek given mostly in alarm. When threatened they sometimes hide by submerging themselves. The breeding season starts after the rains (June to September in India but occasional breeding in March rains reported in Rajasthan [25] ). Males defend territories from other males with open wing and neck stretched displays which can escalate to pecking. [26] The territory maintenance activities are at a maximum from around 9 to 11 AM. [27] The nest is a small platform of stems and leaves of Pistia, Nymphoides, Hydrilla, and Eichhornia placed on a mat of vegetation but eggs may also be laid directly on the leaf of a lotus plant. The usual clutch is four, the eggs are very conical, glossy brown with irregular black zig-zag markings. Incubation and care of the young is entirely left to males. The eggs hatch in 29 days. Predation rates of eggs are high, up to 94% were lost in one study to various predators including birds and turtles. [22] Young chicks may be sheltered between the wings and carried to safety. [19] They become independent of their father when they are about ten weeks old. [22]
The nematode parasites Gongylonema indica and Stellocaronema alii, [28] and the feather louse Rallicola indicus [29] [30] have been described from specimens of the bronze-winged jacana. [31]
Bronze-winged jacana females, like other female jacanas, [32] are larger than males, territorial, polyandrous, and compete with other females to maintain harems of males to incubate clutches of eggs. Each female's territory encompasses one to four males and their individual territories. Heavier males defend their territories from other males and the degree of polyandry of females is a trade-off based on the sizes of the male territories and the number of males in the harems. Females mate with multiple males, leading to intense sperm competition, and the male that receives (termed as receivers) a clutch of eggs for incubation may destroy clutches in which their paternity is in doubt. [33] In addition to the territorial males, there may be many "floater" males that attempt to copulate with females. [34] Females may copulate more often with receiver males to ensure clutch survival while also copulating with non-receivers to maintain their harem. The fitness cost of clutches destroyed by receivers is much higher than losing males from her harem. Males make a yelling call to gain the attention of females. Males yell more when in larger harems. Females appear to use yells to assess male quality, and copulate with males that yelled more. [35] [36]
The black-winged kite, also known as the black-shouldered kite, is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much smaller kestrels. This Palearctic and Afrotropical species was sometimes combined with the Australian black-shouldered kite and the white-tailed kite of North and South America which together form a superspecies. This kite is distinctive, with long wings; white, grey and black plumage; and owl-like forward-facing eyes with red irises. The owl-like behaviour is even more pronounced in the letter-winged kite, a nocturnal relative in Australia. Although mainly seen on plains, they are sometimes seen on grassy slopes of hills in the higher elevation regions of Asia. They are not migratory, but show nomadism in response to weather and food availability. They are well adapted to utilize periodic upsurges in rodent populations and can raise multiple broods in a single year unlike most birds of prey. Populations in southern Europe have grown in response to human activities, particularly agriculture and livestock rearing. Now present in SouthWest France
The red-wattled lapwing is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. Like other lapwings they are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud alarm calls are indicators of human or animal movements and the sounds have been variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it leading to the colloquial name of did-he-do-it bird. Usually seen in pairs or small groups not far from water, they sometimes form large aggregations in the non-breeding season (winter). They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. The cryptically patterned chicks hatch and immediately follow their parents to feed, hiding by lying low on the ground or in the grass when threatened.
The African jacana is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It has long toes and long claws that enables it to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, its preferred habitat. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. For the origin and pronunciation of the name, see Jacanidae.
The pheasant-tailed jacana is a jacana in the monotypic genus Hydrophasianus. Like all other jacanas, they have elongated toes and nails that enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, their preferred habitat. They may also swim or wade in water reaching their body while foraging mainly for invertebrate prey. They are found in tropical Asia from Yemen in the west to the Philippines in the east and move seasonally in parts of their range. They are the only jacanas that migrate long distances and have different non-breeding and breeding plumages. The pheasant-tailed jacana forages by swimming or by walking on aquatic vegetation. Females are larger than males and are polyandrous, laying several clutches that are raised by different males in their harem.
The greater coucal or crow pheasant, is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is divided into several subspecies, some being treated as full species. They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in a wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. They are weak fliers, and are often seen clambering about in vegetation or walking on the ground as they forage for insects, eggs and nestlings of other birds. They have a familiar deep resonant call which is associated with omens in many parts of its range.
The pin-tailed sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family. It has a small, pigeon-like head and neck and a sturdy, compact body. It has long pointed wings, which are white underneath, a long tail and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn. The call is a loud kattar-kattar. This gregarious species breeds on dry open treeless plains and similar habitats. Its nest is a ground scrape into which two or three cream-coloured eggs with cryptic markings are laid. Both sexes incubate the eggs.
The wattled jacana is a wader in the family Jacanidae found throughout much of South America east of the Andes, as well as western Panama and Trinidad. It is the only species in the Jacanidae family with such a large distribution. Wattled jacanas have long toes and claws which help them walk through aquatic vegetation. Like the majority of species of jacanas, the female is larger than the male, and forms harems of up to 4 or 5 males at any given time. There is also a major difference in proportional development or ornamentation and defense relative to body size when compared to males.
The northern jacana or northern jaçana is a wader which is known as a resident breeder from coastal Mexico to western Panama, and on Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It sometimes known to breed in Texas, United States, and has also been recorded on several occasions as a vagrant in Arizona. The jacanas are a group of wetland birds, which are identifiable by their huge feet and claws, which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. In Jamaica, this bird is also known as the 'Jesus bird', as it appears to walk on water.
The yellow-legged buttonquail is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails. This family is peculiar in that the females are larger and more colourful than the males and are polyandrous.
The jungle nightjar is a species of nightjar found in the Indian Subcontinent. It is found mainly on the edge of forests where it is seen or heard at dusk. The taxonomy of this and related nightjars is complex and a range of treatments have been followed that cover this and several other nightjars in the Asian region. It was formerly called the grey nightjar or Indian jungle nightjar and sometimes included the East Asian grey nightjar as a subspecies.
The grey-faced buzzard is an Asian bird of prey. It is typically 41–46 cm (16–18 in) in length, making it a small-sized raptor. It breeds in Manchuria, Korea and Japan; it winters in South-east Asia.
The comb-crested jacana, also known as the lotusbird or lilytrotter, is the only species of jacana in the genus Irediparra. Like other jacana species, it is adapted to the floating vegetation of tropical freshwater wetlands.
The lesser jacana is a wader in the family Jacanidae and can be found in Africa. It can be recognized by its long legs and claws that allow it to walk on aquatic vegetation – although it is not to be confused with the larger African Jacana. The lesser jacana is insectivorous. Its conservation status is of least concern.
Moeyungyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in Myanmar's Bago Division, covering an area of 103.6 km2 (40.0 sq mi). It was established in 1988 and gained the status of an Important Bird Area in 2003.
M. indicus may refer to:
Polygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a few males. Systems where several females mate with several males are defined either as promiscuity or polygynandry. Lek mating is frequently regarded as a form of polygyny, because one male mates with many females, but lek-based mating systems differ in that the male has no attachment to the females with whom he mates, and that mating females lack attachment to one another.
In behavioral ecology, polyandry is a class of mating system where one female mates with several males in a breeding season. Polyandry is often compared to the polygyny system based on the cost and benefits incurred by members of each sex. Polygyny is where one male mates with several females in a breeding season . A common example of polyandrous mating can be found in the field cricket of the invertebrate order Orthoptera. Polyandrous behavior is also prominent in many other insect species, including the red flour beetle, the adzuki bean weevil, and the species of spider Stegodyphus lineatus. Polyandry also occurs in some primates such as marmosets, mammal groups, the marsupial genus' Antechinus and bandicoots, around 1% of all bird species, such as jacanas and dunnocks, insects such as honeybees, and fish such as pipefish.
The jacanas are a group of tropical waders in the family Jacanidae. They are found in the tropical regions around the world. They are noted for their elongated toes and toenails that allow them to spread out their weight while foraging on floating or semi-emergent aquatic vegetation. They are also among the somewhat rare groups of birds in which females are larger, and several species maintain harems of males in the breeding season with males solely responsible for incubating eggs and taking care of the chicks.
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