Morelet's seedeater

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Morelet's seedeater
Morelet's seedeater (Sporophila morelleti morelleti) Orange Walk.jpg
Sporophila morelleti morelleti
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Sporophila
Species:
S. morelleti
Binomial name
Sporophila morelleti
(Bonaparte, 1850)
Sporophila morelleti map.svg

Morelet's seedeater (Sporophila morelleti) is a passerine bird in the typical seedeater genus Sporophila .

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was formerly considered conspecific with the cinnamon-rumped seedeater (Sporophila torqueola), with the combined species known as white-collared seedeater. However, with the discovery that cinnamon-rumped and Morelet's are deeply divergent from one another genetically, don't intergrade, and aren't even each other's closest relatives within the genus, they are now treated as separate species. [2] [3]

Distribution and habitat

It ranges from a small area along the Rio Grande near San Ignacio, Texas in the United States [4] south through eastern Mexico and Central America to Panama. It mainly inhabits tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands but can also be found in pastures, arable land, and heavily degraded former forests. [1]

Foraging

The Morelet's seedeater eats mainly seeds and insects, and occasionally berries. It often forages on herbaceous plants, and less often on the ground. In captivity, it drinks and bathes often, but in the wild no drinking was observed, even though more than 300 hours of field notes were taken. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2017) [amended version of 2016 assessment]. "Sporophila morelleti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22731776A119483309. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22731776A119483309.en . Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  2. Mason, Nicholas A.; Olvera-Vital, Arturo; Lovette, Irby J.; Navarro-Sigüenza, Adolfo G. (2018). "Hidden endemism, deep polyphyly, and repeated dispersal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Diversification of the White-collared Seedeater complex (Thraupidae: Sporophila torqueola)". Ecology and Evolution. 8 (3): 1867–1881. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3799 . ISSN   2045-7758. PMC   5792519 . PMID   29435260.
  3. Chesser, R. Terry; Burns, Kevin J.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Lovette, Irby J.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V.; Stotz, Douglas F.; Winger, Benjamin M.; Winker, Kevin (July 2018). "Fifty-ninth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk. 135 (3): 798–813. doi: 10.1642/auk-18-62.1 . ISSN   0004-8038.
  4. "White-collared Seedeater". Bird Info. World Birding Center . Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  5. "White-Collared Seedeater". Birds of North America. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 7 April 2017.[ permanent dead link ]

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