Red-legged Tinamou

Red-legged Tinamou
Illustration by Keulemans, 1895
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Tinamiformes
Family:	Tinamidae
Subfamily:	Tinaminae
Genus:	Crypturellus
Species:	C. erythropus
Binomial name
Crypturellus erythropus (Pelzeln, 1863)[2]
Sub-species
C. e. erythropus (Pelzeln, 1863)[2] C. e. cursitans (Wetmore & Phelps, 1956)[2] C. e. spencei (Brabourne & Chubb, 1914)[2] C. e. margaritae (Phelps & Phelps, 1948)[2] C. e. saltuarius (Wetmore, 1950)[2] Magdalena Tinamou C. e. columbianus (Salvadori, 1895)[2] Colombian Tinamou C. e. idoneus (Todd, 1919)[2] Santa Marta Tinamou
Synonyms
Crypturus erythropus

The Red-legged Tinamou or Red-footed Tinamou,^[3]Crypturellus erythropus, is a dumpy, ground-dwelling bird found in the tropics and lower subtropics of northern South America.^[4].

Description

The Red-legged Tinamou is superficially similar to a quail to which it is not related as it, along with other tinamous, belongs in the Paleognathae. Its total length is 27–32 cm (11–13 in). Its brownish upper parts and grey chest contrasts clearly with the buff belly. The back and wings are barred, but this is faint (often barely visible) in the males. Additionally, the amount of barring to the upperparts varies among the subspecies. It is the only tinamou in its range with rosy-red legs.

Behavior

As other tinamous, it is recorded infrequently, except by its whistling voice. It has been recorded feeding on seeds, berries, snails, and insects. Little is known about its breeding behavior, but the glossy eggs are pale greyish-lavender with a variable amount of pink suffusion.

Etymology

Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words. kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore Crypturellus means small hidden tail.^[5]

Taxonomy

All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also Ratites. Unlike other Ratites, Tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and Tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.^[6]

Red-legged tinamou subspecies are:

• C. e. erythropus located in eastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and northeastern Brazil^[4].
• C. e. cursitans located east of the Andes in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela^[4].
• C. e. spencei located in northern Venezuela^[4].
• C. e. margaritae located on Margarita Island^[4].
• C. e. saltuarius - Magdalena Tinamou located in northeastern Colombia in Sierra de Ocaña^[4].
• C. e. columbianus - Colombian Tinamou located in tropical north central Colombia^[4].
• C. e. idoneus - Santa Marta Tinamou located in northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela^[4].

The taxonomy, beyond this, remains unclear, with some authorities considering the taxa saltuarius, idoneus, and columbianus as monotypic species rather than subspecies of the Red-legged Tinamou. The SACC rejected a proposal to elevate these to species status, arguing that the presently available data fail to support the split.^[7].

Additionally, several subspecies usually associated with the Red-legged Tinamou have been associated with other species in the past, especially the Thicket Tinamou, the Choco Tinamou and the Yellow-legged Tinamou.^{[citation needed]}

Range and habitat

The Red-legged Tinamou lives in in Guyana, Suriname, Colombia, Venezuela and northeastern Brazil, and on Margarita Island^[4]. It may also be found in French Guiana.^[1] It is favored habitat is dry forest, although it can be found in moist forest and lower elevation shrubland and grasslands. It prefers elevations below 1,300 m (4,300 ft).^[8]

Conservation

The Red-legged Tinamou is uncommon to locally common in most of its range, but the Magdalena Tinamou is very rare (perhaps extinct), while the Colombian Tinamou is endangered. In both cases the main problem is habitat destruction, but hunting is another issue. The IUCN lists this bird as Least Concern,^[1] with an occurrence range of 1,800,000 km² (690,000 sq mi).^[8]

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c} IUCN (2009)
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Brands, S. (2008)
3. ^ Remsen Jr., J. V. (2009)
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Clements, J (2007)
5. ^ Gotch, A. F. (1195)
6. ^ Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
7. ^ Remsen Jr., J. V. (2006)
8. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International (2008)(a)

References

• BirdLife International (2008). Crypturellus erythropus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 09 Feb 2009.
• BirdLife International (2008(a)). "Red-legged Tinamou - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=31001&m=0. Retrieved 06 Feb 2009. 
• Brands, Sheila (Aug 14 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Crypturellus erythropus". Project: The Taxonomicon. http://www.taxonomy.nl/Main/Classification/51337.htm. Retrieved Feb 04 2009. 
• Clements, James (2007). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World (6 ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978 0 8014 4501 9. 
• Davies, S.J.J.F. & Bamford, Mike (2002): Ratites and tinamous : Tinamidae, Rheidae, Dromaiidae, Casuariidae, Apterygidae, Struthionidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0198549962
• Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Tinamous". In Hutchins, Michael. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 57–59. ISBN 0 7876 5784 0. 
• Gotch, A. F. (1995) [1979]. "Tinamous". Latin Names Explained. A Guide to the Scientific Classifications of Reptiles, Birds & Mammals. New York, NY: Facts on File. p. 183. ISBN 0 8160 3377 3. 
• Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• Remsen Jr., J. V.; et al. (Mar 2006). "species limits in Crypturellus erythropus group:". South American Classification Committee. American Ornithologists' Union. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop209-211.html. Retrieved 04 Feb 2009. 
• Remsen Jr., J. V.; et al. (30 Jan 2009). "Classification of birds of South America Part 01:". South American Classification Committee. American Ornithologists' Union. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html. Retrieved 09 Feb 2009. 

External links