The marail guan was formally described in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Statius Müller under the binomial namePhasianus marail.[4] Müller based his account on "Le Marail" from Cayenne that had been described in 1771 by the French naturalist, the Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.[5][6] The marail guan is now one of 15 species placed in the genus Penelope that was introduced in 1776 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem.[7] The specific epithet and the common name are from Marai, the Carib word for a guan.[8]
P. m. jacupebaSpix, 1825 – southeast Venezuela and north Brazil
P. m. marail (Müller, PLS, 1776) – east Venezuela and the Guianas
Description
The marail guan is 63 to 68cm (2.1 to 2.2ft) long. Males weigh 772 to 1,310g (1.7 to 2.9lb) and females 770 to 1,450g (1.7 to 3.2lb). The back, wings, and central tail feathers of the nominate subspecies are dark with a greenish olive gloss. The outer tail feathers are bluish black. Its throat and chest are dark with white speckles and the belly reddish brown. It has a red dewlap. P. m. jacupeba is slightly smaller, paler, and more a grayish brown.[3]
Distribution and habitat
The nominate subspecies of marail guan is found from eastern Venezuela through the Guianas. P. m. jacupeba is found in northern Brazil north of the Amazon River and possibly in southeastern Venezuela, although not all authorities accept the latter.[2][3] It mostly inhabits mature tropical forest though it can be found in secondary forest. In the Guianas and Brazil is favors terre firma forest with dense undergrowth. It is a bird of the lowlands, in Venezuela ranging between 100 and 600m (330 and 1,970ft) of elevation.[3]
Behavior
Movement
The marail guan appears to be sedentary. A study in Suriname found territories ranged in size from 2 to 9ha (4.9 to 22 acres).[3]
Feeding
The marail guan forages singly or in groups of up to six, mostly in the canopy and lower levels of the forest but sometimes on the ground. Its diet is almost entirely fruits though insects are occasionally taken.[3]
Breeding
The marail guan's breeding season varies within its range. It appears to span from October to February in the Guianas and extend further in Brazil. It builds a cup nest high in a tree fork and lays two or three eggs.[3]
The marail guan gives a wing-whirring display, usually before dawn, and usually follows it with a barking "whaf, whaf, whaf". It also gives the barking calls at dusk.[3]
Status
The IUCN has assessed the marail guan as being of Least Concern.[1] It is fairly common to common throughout its large range but like all guans is subject to hunting pressure.[3]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 del Hoyo, J. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Marail Guan (Penelope marail), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.margua1.01 retrieved September 27, 2021
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
