Bronze-winged jacana
Bronze-winged jacana | |
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Bronze-winged jacana | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Jacanidae |
Genus: | Metopidius Wagler, 1832 |
Species: | M. indicus
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Binomial name | |
Metopidius indicus (Latham, 1790)
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Synonyms | |
Parra indica protonym |
The bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It is found across South and Southeast Asia and is the sole species in the genus Metopidius. Like other jacanas it forages on lilies and other floating aquatic vegetation, the long feet spreading out its weight and preventing sinking. The sexes are alike but females are slightly larger and are polyandrous, maintaining a harem of males during the breeding season in the monsoon rains. Males maintain territories, with one male in the harem chosen to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. When threatened, young chicks may be carried to safety by the male under his wings.
Taxonomy and systematics
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Phylogeny of the Jacanidae based on an analysis of mitochondrial gene sequences[2]
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The bronze-winged jacana was
Like other jacanas it has 10 tail feathers and the oil gland is tufted.
Description
Bronze-winged jacanas are
Measurements of 43 males and 25 females from southern India[22] | ||
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Measurement (± s.e.) | Males | Females |
mass (g) | 176.2 ± 1.68 | 282.4 ± 5.22 |
bill (mm) | 22.5 ± 0.96 | 25.1 ± 0.15 |
shield height (mm) | 22.5 ± 0.17 | 24.1 ± 0.34 |
wing (mm) | 162 ± 0.46 | 189 ± 1.03 |
tarsus (mm) | 70.2 ± 0.36 | 78.6 ± 0.60 |
tail (mm) | 45.5 ± 0.47 | 51.2 ± 0.73 |
Distribution and habitat
The species is widely distributed across the Indian Subcontinent (but not Sri Lanka or western Pakistan) and
Behaviour and ecology
Bronze-winged jacanas are found singly or in pairs foraging on aquatic vegetation. They balance on their long legs and long toes, and feed on plant material (claimed to be purely incidental[24]), insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water's surface. Call is a wheezy piping seek-seek-seek given mostly in alarm. When threatened they sometimes hide by submerging themselves. The breeding season starts after the rains (June to September in India but occasional breeding in March rains reported in Rajasthan[25]). Males defend territories from other males with open wing and neck stretched displays which can escalate to pecking.[26] The territory maintenance activities are at a maximum from around 9 to 11 AM.[27] The nest is a small platform of stems and leaves of Pistia, Nymphoides, Hydrilla, and Eichhornia placed on a mat of vegetation but eggs may also be laid directly on the leaf of a lotus plant. The usual clutch is four, the eggs are very conical, glossy brown with irregular black zig-zag markings. Incubation and care of the young is entirely left to males. The eggs hatch in 29 days. Predation rates of eggs are high, up to 94% were lost in one study to various predators including birds and turtles.[22] Young chicks may be sheltered between the wings and carried to safety.[19] They become independent of their father when they are about ten weeks old.[22]
Nematode parasites, Gongylonema indica and Stellocaronema alii[28] and the feather louse Rallicola indicus[29][30] have been described from specimens of the bronze-winged jacana.[31]
Mating system
Bronze-winged jacanas, like other jacanas,
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ .
- ^ Latham, John (1790). Index Ornithologicus, Sive Systema Ornithologiae: Complectens Avium Divisionem In Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Ipsarumque Varietates (in Latin). Vol. 2. London: Leigh & Sotheby. p. 765.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 228.
- ^ Latham, John (1787). Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds. London: Printed for Leigh & Sotheby. pp. 257–258.
- ^ Wagler, Johann Georg (1832). "Mittheilungen über einige merkwürdige Thiere". Isis von Oken (in German). Cols 275-281 [279].
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Grebes, flamingos, buttonquail, plovers, painted-snipes, jacanas, plains-wanderer, seedsnipes". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ ISBN 84-87334-67-9.
- .
- ^ Forbes, W.A. (1881). "Notes on the Anatomy and Systematic Position of the Jaçanás (Parridae)". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 645–647.
- ^ Fry, C.H. (1983). "The jacanid radius and Microparra, a neotenic genus". Gerfaut. 73: 173–184.
- JSTOR 4067321.
- ^ Fry, C.H. (1983). "The Jacanid radius and microparra, a neotenic genus". Le Gerfaut. 73: 173–184.
- .
- ^ a b Lucas, Frederic A. (1893). "The weapons and wings of birds". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 653–663.
- ^ a b Whistler, Hugh (1949). Popular Handbook of Indian Birds (4 ed.). London: Gurney and Jackson. pp. 456–457.
- ^ Ramachandran, N. K.; Vijayan, V.S. (1995). "Breeding ecology of the bronzewinged (Metopidius indicus) and pheasant-tailed (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) jacanas in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 92: 322–334.
- ^ a b c Ali, Salim; Ripley, S. Dillon (1980). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 2. Megapodes to Crab Plover (2 ed.). Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 201–202.
- ^ Ramachandran, N. K. (1998). "Interspecific association of jacanas (Hydrophasianus chirurgus and Metopidius indicus) and the role of habitat". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 95: 76–86.
- ISBN 0-7470-1403-5.
- ^ .
- ^ Ramachandran, N. K.; Vijayan, V. S. (1997). "Population and distribution of Bronzewinged (Metopidius indicus) and Pheasant-Tailed (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) Jacanas in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 94: 307–316.
- ^ Jenni, D.A.; Bonan, A. (2019). "Jacanas (Jacanidae)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ Vyas, Rakesh (1995). "Unusual nesting season of Bronzewinged Jacana Metopidius indicus (Latham)". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 92: 119–120.
- ^ Mathew, D.N. (1964). "Observations on the breeding habits of the Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus (Latham))". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 61: 295–302.
- ^ Ramachandran, N. K. (1998). "Activity patterns and time budgets of the pheasant-tailed (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) and bronzewinged (Metopidius indicus) jacanas". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 95: 234–245.
- doi:10.1139/z85-359.
- ISSN 0031-1049.
- ^ Emerson, K.C.; Elbel, Robert E. (1961). "A new species of Rallicola (Mallophaga) from Southeast Asia". Entomological News: 130–132.
- S2CID 46818970.
- .
- .
- .
- S2CID 24253395.
- .
External links
Media related to Metopidius indicus at Wikimedia Commons