Sharpbill

Sharpbill
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Oxyruncidae (disputed)
Genus: Oxyruncus
Temminck, 1820
Species: O. cristatus
Binomial name
Oxyruncus cristatus
Swainson, 1821

The sharpbill (Oxyruncus cristatus) is a small bird. Its range is from the mountainous areas of tropical South America and southern Central America (Panama and Costa Rica).

It inhabits the canopy of wet forest and feeds on fruit and some invertebrates. It has an orange erectile crest, black-spotted yellowish underparts and scaling on the head and neck. As its name implies, it has a straight, pointed beak, which gives its common name.

Sharpbills are most commonly found in tall dense forests but occasionally venture to the forest edge. Their diet consists of primarily of fruit, but they will also take insects, hanging upside down in from twigs to obtain insect larvae. They will also travel in mixed-species feeding flocks with ovenbirds, tanagers, woodpeckers and cotingas. The nest of the sharpbill is built by the female and is a small cup built on a slender branch. Chicks are fed by regurgitation.

It is often considered to be the sole member of the passerine bird family Oxyruncidae, with some recent genetic evidence suggests it belongs in the family Tityridae,[2][3]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Oxyruncus cristatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Ericson, P. G. P., D. Zuccon, U. S. Johansson, H. Alvarenga, and R. O. Prum. 2006. Higher-level phylogeny and morphological evolution of tyrant flycatchers, cotingas, manakins, and their allies (Aves: Tyrannida). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40:471-483.
  3. ↑ Ohlson, J. I., R. O. Prum, and P. G. P. Ericson. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of the cotingas (Aves: Cotingidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42:25-37.
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