Acacia pied barbet

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Acacia pied barbet
Widespread subspecies T. l. centralis in the Hardap Region of Namibia

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Lybiidae
Genus: Tricholaema
Species:
T. leucomelas
Binomial name
Tricholaema leucomelas
(Boddaert, 1783)
  
Tricholaema diademata
  
Tricholaema frontata
  Tricholaema leucomelas
Synonyms
  • Tricholaema affine

The acacia pied barbet or pied barbet (Tricholaema leucomelas) is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae which is native to southern Africa.

Taxonomy

The acacia pied barbet was described by the French polymath

binomial name Bucco leucomelas in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.[4] The acacia pied barbet is now placed in the genus Tricholaema that was introduced by the French brothers Jules and Édouard Verreaux in 1855.[5][6] The generic name combines the Ancient Greek thrix meaning hair and laimos meaning "throat". The specific leucomelas combines the Ancient Greek leukos meaning "white" and melas meaning "black".[7]

Three subspecies are recognised:[6]

  • T. l. centralis (Roberts, 1932) – Angola to west Zimbabwe south to south Namibia and north South Africa
  • T. l. affinis (Shelley, 1880) – east Zimbabwe, southwest Mozambique and northeast South Africa
  • T. l. leucomelas (Boddaert, 1783) – south South Africa

Description

T. l. centralis with beetle prey in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa

The acacia pied barbet has dark brown eyes and blackish legs and feet.[8] It has a black-and-white striped head with a red front and forecrown and pale yellow superciliary stripe. It has a black bib under the chin, with a white breast and underparts in the drier land subspecies T. l. centralis. The breast and underparts are more dusky and streaky in the southerly nominate subspecies, and more yellowish in the easterly T. l. affinis.[9] The sexes are similar in appearance. Juvenile birds lack the red mark on the forehead, and have the underpart plumage more streaky.[8]

Distribution and habitat

It primarily inhabits semi-arid

Racosperma species from Australia, to regions bordering its original range, this species has been able to expand its range to these otherwise unreachable areas.[10]

It is found in Angola, Botswana, eastern Eswatini, western Lesotho, southern Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, southern Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Behaviour and ecology

Courtship call of the male, a monotonous series of some 21 hoots

The acacia pied barbet is a sedentary but fairly restless species that occurs in pairs or singly.[8] Its flight is fast and direct. The acacia pied barbet drills holes into dead wood to create cavity nests, like most other barbets and woodpeckers. It lays two to four eggs from August to April, and both sexes incubate the eggs.

The acacia pied barbet has been observed taking fruit from various trees and shrubs, such as Ficus, Searsia and Phoenix reclinata, as well as Aloe nectar and insects.

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22681799A92920896.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1780). "Le barbu a plastron noir". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 13. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 155–156.
  3. Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Barbu, du Cap de bonne-Esperance"
    . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 7. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 688, Fig. 1.
  4. ^ Boddaert, Pieter (1783). Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés (in French). Utrecht. p. 43, Number 688 Fig. 1.
  5. ^ Verreaux, Jules; Verreaux, Édouard (1855). "Oiseaux nouveaux du Gabon". Journal für Ornithologie (in Latin and French). 3: 101–106 [102–103].
  6. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Jacamars, puffbirds, toucans, barbets, honeyguides". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-628-00266-1
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1-920602-00-0
    .
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-01. Retrieved 2012-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tricholaema leucomelas.
Wikispecies has information related to Tricholaema leucomelas.
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