Western chat-tanager

The western chat-tanager (Calyptophilus tertius) is a passerine bird belonging to the family Calyptophilidae. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) in the Caribbean.

Western chat-tanager
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Calyptophilidae
Genus: Calyptophilus
Species:
C. tertius
Binomial name
Calyptophilus tertius
Wetmore, 1929
Synonyms

Calyptophilus frugivorus tertius

Taxonomy

It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the eastern chat-tanager (C. frugivorus) but is now usually considered to be a separate species. There is a high degree of divergence between the two in mitochondrial DNA and intron sequences. Speciation is likely to have occurred on two ancient islands which later fused to form present-day Hispaniola.[2]

Description

It is 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long. The upperparts are dark brown. The breast and throat are white shading into the grey-brown belly and flanks. There is a yellow patch between the eye and bill. The tail is long and rounded. The bird has whistling and buzzing calls. The eastern chat-tanager is similar but has a bare yellow ring around the eye and is smaller at 17 cm (6.7 in).

Habitat & distribution

The western chat-tanager inhabits wet forest in mountainous areas, usually 745 to 2200 meters. It occurs in southern Haiti, and in the Sierra de Bahoruco (in the southwest of the country) in the Dominican Republic. It mainly forages on the ground.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Calyptophilus tertius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Andrea K. Townsend; Christopher C. Rimmer; Steven C. Latta & Irby J. Lovette (2007). "Ancient differentiation in the single-island avian radiation of endemic Hispaniolan chat-tanagers (Aves: Calyptophilus)". Molecular Ecology. 16 (17): 3634–3642. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03422.x. PMID 17845436.
  • Raffaele, Herbert; Wiley, James; Garrido, Orlando; Keith, Allan & Raffaele, Janis (2003) Birds of the West Indies, Christopher Helm, London.
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