Turaco

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Loerie" redirects here. For the South African town, see
Loerie, Eastern Cape
.

Turacos and relatives
Temporal range:
Ma
Possible Early Eocene record
Guinea turaco (Tauraco persa) at Birds of Eden aviary, South Africa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Otidimorphae
Order: Musophagiformes
Seebohm, 1890
Family: Musophagidae
Lesson, 1828
Genera
Synonyms
  • Apopempsidae Brodkorb, 1971b
  • Veflintornithidae Kašin, 1976
  • Turaconidae

The turacos make up the

go-away-birds. In southern Africa both turacos and go-away-birds are commonly known as loeries. They are semi-zygodactylous: the fourth (outer) toe can be switched back and forth. The second and third toes, which always point forward, are conjoined in some species. Musophagids often have prominent crests and long tails; the turacos are noted for peculiar and unique pigments
giving them their bright green and red feathers.

Traditionally, this group has been allied with the

Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy raises this group to a full order Musophagiformes. They have been proposed to link the hoatzin to the other living birds,[1] but this was later disputed.[2] Recent genetic analyses have strongly supported the order ranking of Musophagiformes.[3][4][5]

Musophagidae is one of very few bird families endemic to Africa,

Figs are an important part of their diet. They have rounded wings and long tails and strong legs, making them poor fliers, but good runners.[6]

Turacos are medium-sized arboreal birds

forests, woodland and savanna. Turacos can occasionally be found outside of their native range as escapes from captivity.[7]

They are

predators; their common name is onomatopoeia of this. Musophagids build large stick nests in trees, and lay 2 or 3 eggs. The young are born with thick down and open, or nearly-open, eyes.[8]

Morphology

Female white-bellied go-away-bird, Crinifer leucogaster

Most turacos are medium-sized birds – an exception being the large great blue turaco – with long tails and short, rounded wings. They range in length from 40 to 75 cm (16–30 in). Their flight is weak, but they are strong climbers and are able to move nimbly on branches and through vegetation. Juveniles have claws on the wings that help them climb.[9][10][11] They have a unique foot arrangement, where the fourth toe can be brought around to the back of the foot where it almost touches the first toe, or brought around so that it is near the second and third. In spite of this flexibility the toe is actually usually held at right angles to the axis of the foot.[12]

The plumage of go-away-birds and plantain-eaters is mainly grey and white. The turacos on the other hand are brightly coloured birds, usually blue, green or purple. The green colour in turacos comes from turacoverdin, the only true green pigment in birds known to date. Other "greens" in bird colors result from a yellow pigment such as some carotenoid, combined with the prismatic physical structure of the feather itself which scatters the light in a particular way and giving a blue colour.

Turaco wings contain the red pigment turacin, unlike in other birds where red colour is due to carotenoids. Both pigments are derived from porphyrins and only known from the Musophagidae into the 21st century, but especially the little-researched turacoverdin might have relatives in other birds. The incidence of turacoverdin in relation to habitat is of interest to scientists, being present in forest species but absent in savanna- and acacia-living species.[12]

Little is known about the longevity of wild turacos, but in captivity they are proving to be exceptionally long-lived, easily living to 30 years in captivity. A bird in the Cotswold Wildlife Park collection in England approached its 37th year.[13]

Evolution and systematics

The fossil genus Veflintornis is known from the Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban (France). It was established as Apopempsis by Pierce Brodkorb in 1971, but this is pre-empted by Schenkling's 1903 use of the name for some beetles. "Apopempsis" africanus (Early Miocene of Kenya) might also belong there.[14]

Further fossil material of putative musophagids was found in Egypt as well as in

Late Oligocene deposits at Gaimersheim in Germany and Middle Miocene deposits at Grive-Saint-Alban[15] and Vieux-Collonges (each in France).[14] While it is not entirely certain that these fossils are indeed of turacos, it nonetheless appears as if the family evolved in the Oligocene of central Europe or perhaps northern Africa, and later on shifted its distribution southwards. The climate of those European regions during the late Paleogene
was not too dissimilar to that of (sub)tropical Africa today; the Saharan desert was not yet present and the distance across the Mediterranean was not much more than what it is today. Thus such a move south may well have been a very slow and gradual shifting of a large and continuous range.

Great blue turaco
Corythaeola cristata

The

gruiform Talantatos, though it is not certain whether this will become widely accepted.[14]

The phylogenetic analysis conducted by Field & Hsiang (2018) indicated that

Foro panarium known from the Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation (Wyoming, United States) was a stem-turaco.[16]

Phylogeny

The IOC World Bird List (version 10.1) recognises 23 species of turaco in six genera.[17] However, a phylogenetic analysis by Perktaş et al (2020) found genus Tauraco polyphyletic and a revised classification has been proposed based on molecular, morphological and biogeographic analysis.[18] This study recognised 33 species-level taxa in seven genera corresponding to the major clades. The following phylogenetic tree is based on this proposal and uses their proposed genus and species names.[18]

Corythaeolinae

Corythaeola cristata (great blue turaco)

Criniferinae

Crinifer leucogaster (white-bellied go-away-bird)

Crinifer

Crinifer piscator (western plantain-eater)

Crinifer zonurus (eastern plantain-eater)

sensu stricto

Crinifer personatus (bare-faced go-away-bird)

Crinifer concolor (

gray go-away-bird
)

(Crinifer sensu lato)[a]
Musophaginae
Gallirex[h]

Gallirex porphyreolophus (southern purple-crested turaco)

Gallirex chlorochlamys (northern purple-crested turaco)[b]

Gallirex kivuensis (Kivu turaco)[b]

Gallirex johnstoni (Rwenzori turaco)

Menelikornis[g]

Menelikornis ruspolii (

Prince Ruspoli's turaco
)

Menelikornis leucotis (white-cheeked turaco)

Menelikornis donaldsoni (Donaldson's turaco)[b]

Musophaga

Musophaga macrorhynchus (western yellow-billed turaco)

Musophaga verreauxii (eastern yellow-billed turaco)[b]

Musophaga violacea (violet turaco)

Musophaga rossae (Ross's turaco)

Tauraco
Proturacus[f]

Proturacus bannermani (Bannerman's turaco)

Proturacus erythrolophus (red-crested turaco)

Proturacus leucolophus (white-crested turaco)

Tauraco

Tauraco emini (eastern black-billed turaco)[c]

Tauraco hartlaubi (Hartlaub's turaco)

Tauraco persa (Guinea turaco or eastern green turaco)

Tauraco buffoni (western green turaco)[b]

Tauraco fischeri (Fischer's turaco)

Tauraco reichenowi (Reichenow's turaco)[d]

Tauraco corythaix (Knysna turaco)

Tauraco livingstonii (Livingstone's turaco)

Tauraco schuettii (black-billed turaco)

Tauraco chalcolophus (Ngorongoro turaco)[e]

Tauraco schalowi (Schalow's turaco)

Tauraco marungensis (Zambia turaco)[e]

Tauraco loitanus (Loita turaco)[e]

sensu stricto
sensu lato

Notes:[18]

  1. ^ Broader definition of Crinifer proposed, because Corythaixoides leucogaster is recovered with the Crinifer species rather than the other Corythaixoides species
  2. ^ a b c d e Proposed species split based on phylogenetic species principle.
  3. ^ Elevation of former subspecies to new species proposed because Tauraco schuettii was found to be polyphyletic.
  4. ^ Elevation of former subspecies to new species proposed because Tauraco livingstonii was found to be polyphyletic.
  5. ^ a b c Proposed species split of Tauraco schalowi complex into four species based on phylogenetic species principle.
  6. ^ Proposed recognition of genus Proturacus for a clade of Tauraco bannermani, Tauraco erythrolophus and Tauraco leucolophus.
  7. ^ Proposed genus for clade of former Taurico species
  8. ^ Proposed genus for clade of former Taurico and Ruwenzorornis species

Species

The species of Musophagidae, arranged in taxonomic sequence and Paleofile.com websites are:[19][20]

Order Musophagiformes Seebohm 1890

Interaction with humans

The crimson flight feathers of turacos have been treasured as status symbols to royalty and paramount chiefs all over Africa. They are recorded as being valued by the Swazi and Zulu royal families.[21] British ornithologist Constantine Walter Benson, who collected heavily in Africa, is alleged to have tasted every species he collected; he claimed that turacos tasted the best.[22]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hughes & Baker (1999)
  2. ^ Sorenson et al. (2003)
  3. PMID 17148284. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2008-03-07.
  4. S2CID 6472805
    .
  5. PMID 25504713
    .
  6. ^
    OCLC 470649845
    .
  7. ^ "Lost and Found". www.turacos.org. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  8. ISBN 978-1-85391-186-6
    .
  9. S2CID 1296408. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2017-07-09. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  10. ^ "Violaceous Touraco" (PDF). rosamondgiffordzoo.org. 2010-03-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-05. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  11. ^ "TURACO TAG HUSBANDRY MANUAL" (PDF). aviansag.org. 1998-08-18. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-84-87334-22-1
  13. ^ Originally from Nigel Hewston, discussed at the ITS AGM in spring 2012 (at the same venue)
  14. ^ a b c Mlíkovský (2002)
  15. ^ "TT 149", a proximal left and a distal right tibiotarsus of a bird similar in size to living Tauraco: Ballmann (1969)
  16. PMID 29936914
    .
  17. IOC World Bird List
    . 10.1. International Ornithological Congress. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  18. ^
    S2CID 214763342
    .
  19. ^ "Taxonomic lists- Aves". Paleofile.com (net, info). Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  20. ^ Çınar, Ümüt (November 2015). "05 → Oᴛɪᴅᴀᴇ: Mᴜsᴏᴘʜᴀɢɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Oᴛɪᴅɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Cᴜᴄᴜʟɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Cᴀᴘʀɪᴍᴜʟɢɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Sᴛᴇᴀᴛᴏʀɴɪᴛʜɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Nʏᴄᴛɪʙɪɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Pᴏᴅᴀʀɢɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs, Aᴘᴏᴅɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs". www.kmoksy.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  21. ^ ITS Magazine, autumn 2003 (20), www.turacos.org
  22. ISBN 978-1-4729-0628-1
    .

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Musophagidae.
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