Southern nutcracker | |
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Nucifraga hemispila hemispila in western Nepal | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genus: | Nucifraga |
Species: | N. hemispila |
Binomial name | |
Nucifraga hemispila Vigors, 1831 | |
Synonyms | |
Nucifraga caryocatactes hemispila |
The southern nutcracker (Nucifraga hemispila) is a passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) and the Kashmir nutcracker (Nucifraga multipunctata) under the English name "spotted nutcracker".
The southern nutcracker was formally described in 1831 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors under the binomial name Nucifraga hemispila. [2] He specified the type locality as just "the Himalayas"; however, research into Vigors' travels has been able to restrict the locality to the Shimla and Almora districts of northern India. [3] [4] The genus name Nucifraga is the Latin name given to the northern nutcracker by the English naturalist William Turner in 1544, as a translation of the German name Nussbrecher meaning "nut-breaker". [5] The specific epithet hemispila combines the Ancient Greek ἡμι-/hēmi- meaning "half-" or "small" with σπιλος/spilos meaning "stain" or "spot". [6] The southern nutcracker was formerly considered to be conspecific with the spotted nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), that now renamed in its revised narrower ciscumscription as northern nutcracker. It is here treated as a separate species based on differences in morphology and vocalisation, as well molecular genetic analysis. [7] [8]
Four subspecies are accepted: [8]
The southern nutcracker is similar in size to the northern nutcracker, about 33 cm long. It is largely brown, with limited white spotting on the face and upper breast, plain brown lower breast and back, unmarked black wings, and white lower belly and under-tail coverts; for comparison, both the northern nutcracker and the kashmir nutcracker have extensive and larger white spots on the entire breast and back. The tail is black with white outer corners. The bill is stout and black, the legs also black. [9]
It occurs primarily in pine forests, with particular preference for Chinese white pine (Pinus armandii), blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), and other related white pines in Pinus subgenus Strobus, the seeds of which it caches and distributes in a manner similar to other nutcrackers; it will also use other conifers such as spruce in the event of cone crop failure in its preferred species. [10]
The nutcrackers (Nucifraga) are a genus of four species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows.
Clark's nutcracker, sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mainly on pine nuts, burying seeds in the ground in the summer and then retrieving them in the winter by memory. The bird was described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with William Clark first observing it in 1805 along the banks of the Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River.
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Pinus pumila, commonly known as the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native to northeastern Asia and the Japanese isles. It shares the common name creeping pine with several other plants.
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Pinus gerardiana, commonly known as the chilghoza pine or neja, is a pine native to the northwestern Himalayas in Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, Waziristan and northwestern India, growing at elevations of 1,800–3,350 metres (5,910–10,990 ft). It often occurs in association with Cedrus deodara, and Pinus wallichiana.
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The Kashmir nutcracker or large-spotted nutcracker is a passerine bird related to the northern nutcracker and southern nutcracker. Until recently, it was considered a subspecies of the former. It is found in the western Himalayas.