New World barbet

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New World barbets
Female Red-headed Barbet in Ecuador (14799181451).jpg
A female red-headed barbet
(Eubucco bourcierii) in Peru
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Suborder: Pici
Infraorder: Ramphastides
Family: Capitonidae
Bonaparte, 1838
Genera

The New World barbets are a family, Capitonidae, of 15 birds in the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.

Contents

The New World barbets are plump birds, with short necks and large heads. They get their name from the bristles that fringe their heavy bills. Most species are brightly coloured and live in tropical forest. [1]

These barbets are mostly arboreal birds, which nest in tree holes dug by breeding pairs, laying two to four eggs. They eat fruit and insects. These birds do not migrate.

Taxonomy

Fossil New World barbets have been found dating from the Miocene in Florida. [2] The closest relatives of the barbets are the toucans, and these two families are also closely related to the honeyguides and woodpeckers (with which they form the order Piciformes).

Formerly, the barbets have been treated as one family. [3] This has turned out to be paraphyletic, though, with regard to toucans; thus, only the New World true barbets are retained in the Capitonidae. The African barbets (Lybiidae) and the Asian barbets (Megalaimidae), as well as the two toucan-barbets from the Americas (Semnornithidae) are currently split from this family. Alternatively, the toucans, which evolved from a common ancestor shared with the American barbets, might be included in the traditional all-encompassing barbet family. As they have evolved characteristics that are unique to themselves, they are usually treated separately, thus the barbets are split up according to the four lineages.

Head patterns of three species, constituting five races: 1. & 2. Eubucco versicolor, 3. & 5. Eubucco richardsoni, 4. & 6. Eubucco bourcierii, - by Keulemans, 1891 CapitoKeulemans, crop.jpg
Head patterns of three species, constituting five races:
1. & 2. Eubucco versicolor , ♂♂
3. & 5. Eubucco richardsoni , ♂♂
4. & 6. Eubucco bourcierii , ♀♀
 – by Keulemans, 1891

The phylogenetic relationship between the New World barbets and the eight other families in the order Piciformes is shown in the cladogram below. [4] [5] The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). [6]

Piciformes

Galbulidae – jacamars (18 species)

Bucconidae – puffbirds (38 species)

Indicatoridae – honeyguides (16 species)

Picidae – woodpeckers (240 species)

Megalaimidae – Asian barbets (35 species)

Lybiidae – African barbets (42 species)

Capitonidae – New World barbets (15 species)

Semnornithidae – toucan barbets (2 species)

Ramphastidae – toucans (43 species)

Fossils

Ecology

While most New World barbet species inhabit lowland forest, some range into montane and temperate forests, as well. Most are restricted to habitats containing trees with dead wood, which are used for nesting.

The diet of barbets is mixed, with fruit being the dominant part. Small prey items are also taken, especially when nesting. Barbets are capable of shifting their diet quickly in the face of changing food availability. Numerous species of fruiting trees and bushes are visited; an individual barbet may feed on as many as 60 different species in its range. They also visit plantations and take cultivated fruit and vegetables. Fruit is eaten whole, and indigestible material such as seed pits is regurgitated later (often before singing). Regurgitation does not usually happen in the nest (as happens with toucans). Like their relatives, New World barbets are thought to be important agents in seed dispersal in tropical forests.

As well as taking fruit, they also take arthropod prey, gleaned from the branches and trunks of trees. A wide range of insects is taken, including ants, beetles, and moths. Scorpions and centipedes are also taken, and a few species take small vertebrates such as frogs.

Relationship with humans

New World barbets have little direct impact on humans. The loss of forest can have a deleterious effect on barbet species dependent on old growth, to the benefit of species that favor more disturbed or open habitat.

Three species of New World barbets are listed as threatened by the IUCN: The white-mantled barbet of Colombia is listed as endangered and the five-coloured barbet as vulnerable, the two having a relatively small range threatened by deforestation for the timber industry and to create space for agriculture (including coca and marijuana) and livestock, and mining. The quite recently discovered scarlet-banded barbet of Peru is considered vulnerable due to its small population size (estimated at under 1000 birds), although its remote habitat is not immediately threatened.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodpecker</span> Family of birds (Picidae)

Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piciformes</span> Order of birds

Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of which the Picidae make up about half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honeyguide</span> Family of near passerine birds

Honeyguides are a family of birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus Prodotiscus. They have an Old World tropical distribution, with the greatest number of species in Africa and two in Asia. These birds are best known for their interaction with humans. Honeyguides are noted and named for one or two species that will deliberately lead humans directly to bee colonies, so that they can feast on the grubs and beeswax that are left behind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bearded barbet</span> Species of bird

The bearded barbet is an African barbet. Barbets are birds with a worldwide tropical distribution, although New World and Old World barbets are placed in different families. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-throated toucan</span> Species of bird

The white-throated toucan is a near-passerine bird in the family Ramphastidae found in South America throughout the Amazon Basin including the adjacent Tocantins and Araguaia River drainage. It prefers tropical humid forest, but also occurs in woodland and locally in riverine forest within cerrado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toucan barbet</span> Species of bird

The toucan barbet is a barbet native to western Ecuador and Colombia. Along with the prong-billed barbet, it forms the family Semnornithidae, and is closely related to the toucans. It is a medium-sized barbet with a robust yellow bill. It has striking plumage, having a black head with grey throat and nape, red breast and upper belly, yellow lower belly and grey wings and tail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prong-billed barbet</span> Species of bird

The prong-billed barbet is a distinctive, relatively large-billed bird native to humid highland forest of Costa Rica and western Panama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megalaimidae</span> Family of birds

Megalaimidae, the Asian barbets, are a family of birds, comprising two genera with 35 species native to the forests of the Indomalayan realm from Tibet to Indonesia. They were once clubbed with all barbets in the family Capitonidae but the Old World species have been found to be distinctive and are considered, along with the Lybiidae and Ramphastidae, as sister groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lybiidae</span> Family of birds

Lybiidae is a family of birds also known as the African barbets. There are 42 species ranging from the type genus Lybius of forest interior to the tinkerbirds (Pogoniulus) of forest and scrubland. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of the far south-west of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-breasted toucan</span> Species of bird

The red-breasted toucan or green-billed toucan is a bird in the family Ramphastidae, the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarlet-crowned barbet</span> Species of bird

The scarlet-crowned barbet is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae, the New World barbets. It is found in Amazonian Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-mantled barbet</span> Species of bird

The white-mantled barbet is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae. It is endemic to Colombia.

<i>Galbula</i> Genus of birds

Galbula is the type and largest genus of the jacamar family (Galbulidae) of piciform birds, and its suborder Galbulae. Sometimes, the Piciformes are split in two, with the Galbulae upranked to full order Galbuliformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-crowned barbet</span> Species of bird

The red-crowned barbet is part of one of the two subfamilies of Megalaimidae birds. it is in the order of woodpeckers (Piciformes) and their relatives. It is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations with a distribution area of 3,180,000 km2 (1,230,000 sq mi).

<i>Trachyphonus</i> Genus of birds

The African terrestrial barbets are the bird genus Trachyphonus in the African barbet family (Lybiidae), which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. These birds are more terrestrial than the other African barbets and differ in some other respects too; they are thus separated in a monotypic subfamily Trachyphoninae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairy-breasted barbet</span> Species of bird

The hairy-breasted barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found throughout the African tropical rainforest.

<i>Semnornis</i> Genus of birds

The toucan barbets are the small birds in the genus Semnornis. This was often included in the paraphyletic barbets but recently usually considered a distinct family Semnornithidae; alternatively, all barbets might be moved to the toucan family Ramphastidae as a subfamily, Semnornithinae. It contains only two species, the toucan barbet and the prong-billed barbet.

Lester Leroy Short is an American ornithologist. His main research field is the order Piciformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toucan</span> Family of birds

Toucans are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over 40 different species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramphastides</span> Infraorder of birds

Ramphastides is an infraorder of the order Piciformes that includes toucans and barbets. Formerly, the barbets have been classified in a single family, the Capitonidae. However, this has turned out to be paraphyletic with regard to toucans, which resulted in the Capitonidae being split into several families.

References

  1. ↑ Short, Lester L. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. pp. 153–154. ISBN   1-85391-186-0.
  2. ↑ Short, Lester; Horne, Jennifer F. M. (2001). Toucans, Barbets, and Honeyguides: Ramphastidae, Capitonidae and Indicatoridae. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN   978-0-19-854666-5.
  3. ↑ LL Short, JFM Horne (2002) Family Capitonidae (barbets). in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7. Jamacars to Woodpeckers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona ISBN   84-87334-37-7
  4. ↑ Kuhl, H.; Frankl-Vilches, C.; Bakker, A.; Mayr, G.; Nikolaus, G.; Boerno, S.T.; Klages, S.; Timmermann, B.; Gahr, M. (2021). "An unbiased molecular approach using 3′-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38 (1): 108–127. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaa191 . hdl: 21.11116/0000-0007-B72A-C .
  5. ↑ Stiller, J.; et al. (2024). "Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes". Nature. 629: 851–860. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 . PMC   11111414 .
  6. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "IOC World Bird List Version 14.1". International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
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