Crax
Crax | |
---|---|
Blue-billed curassow, Crax alberti | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Galliformes |
Family: | Cracidae |
Subfamily: | Cracinae |
Genus: | Crax Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Crax rubra (great curassow) Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Species | |
7, see text. |
Crax is a
Characteristics
The variety of male bill ornament shapes and colors is typical for this genus, as is a curly crest and a contrasting white or rufous crissum. Crax species, even distantly related, readily hybridize, with fertile offspring theoretically possible in all possible mating combinations[1]
Taxonomy
The genus Crax was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[2] The genus name may be based on the Ancient Greek κρας (kras), meaning "head".[3] The type species was designated as the great curassow (Crax rubra) in 1897 by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway.[4]
Species
The genus contains 7 species:[5]
Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Crax rubra | Great curassow | eastern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador | |
Crax alberti | Blue-billed curassow | Colombia | |
Crax daubentoni | Yellow-knobbed curassow | Colombia and Venezuela | |
Crax globulosa | Wattled curassow | western Amazon basin in South America | |
Crax blumenbachii | Red-billed curassow | Espírito Santo, Bahia and Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil | |
Crax fasciolata | Bare-faced curassow | eastern-central and southern Brazil, Paraguay, and eastern Bolivia, and extreme northeast Argentina | |
Crax alector | Black curassow | northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and far northern Brazil. Introduced to Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Lesser Antilles |
This genus forms one of the two major lineages of curassows. It is distinguishable from its relatives by its pronounced
).Evolution
Crax curassows probably originated as a distinct lineage during the
The northern lineage quite soon thereafter radiated into the ancestors of the great, blue-billed, and yellow-knobbed curassows, which were isolated from each other by the uplift of the northern
The evolution of the 4 southern species was somewhat more complex. In the Messinian, about 6–5.5 mya, the ancestors of the wattled curassow became isolated in the western Amazonas basin. With increasing
References
- Haldane's Rule.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 157.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Ridgway, Robert (1887). A Manual of North American Birds. Philadelphia: Lippincott. p. 207 Footnote.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Pheasants, partridges, francolins". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
Sources
- Pereira, Sérgio Luiz & Baker, Allan J. (2004): Vicariant speciation of curassows (Aves, Cracidae): a hypothesis based on mitochondrial DNA phylogeny. DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0682:VSOCAC]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract HTML fulltext without images
- Pereira, Sérgio Luiz; Baker, Allan J.& Wajntal, Anita (2002): Combined nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences resolve generic relationships within the Cracidae (Galliformes, Aves). Systematic Biology 51(6): 946–958. PMID 12554460 PDF fulltext