Blue-black grassquit
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The blue-black grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) is a small Neotropical bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Volatinia. It is a common and widespread bird that breeds from southern Mexico through Central America, and South America as far as northern Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay, and in Trinidad and Tobago.[1] A male was also observed in Graham County, Arizona, on July 15 and July 17, 2023.[2]
This species is sexually dimorphic; the male is glossy blue with some white under the wing. The female is brown above and pale buff with darker streaks below.
Taxonomy
The blue-black grassquit was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tanagra jacarina.[3] Linnaeus based his description on the "Jacarni" that was described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae.[4][5] The type locality is eastern Brazil.[5] The specific epithet jacarina is derived from the Tupi language and was used for a type of finch.[6] The blue-black grassquit is now the only species placed in the genus Volatinia and was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.[7][8] The genus name is a diminutive of the Latin Script error: No such module "Lang". meaning "flying".[9]
Within the tanager family Thraupidae the blue-black grassquit is in the subfamily Tachyphoninae and is a member of a clade that contains the genera Conothraupis and Creurgops.[10][11]
The blue-black grassquit was formerly placed with the buntings in the subfamily Emberizinae rather than with the tanagers in Thraupinae within an expanded family Emberizidae.[5][10]
Three subspecies are recognised:[8]
- V. j. splendens (Vieillot, 1817) – Mexico to Colombia and east through Venezuela and the Guianas to the Amazon basin; also Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada
- V. j. jacarina (Linnaeus, 1766) – southeast Peru to east Brazil and south to north Argentina
- V. j. peruviensis (Peale, 1849) – west Ecuador, west Peru, and northwest Chile
Description
Adult blue-black grassquits are Script error: No such module "convert". long and weigh Script error: No such module "convert".. They have a slender conical black bill. The male is glossy blue-black, with a black tail and wings; the white inner underwing is visible in flight or display. Female and immature birds have brown upperparts and dark-streaked buff underparts.
Behavior
Social monogamous, extra-pair fertilizations, intraspecific parasitism, and quasi-parasitism are commonly found.[12][13] During the breeding season, males defend small territories, about Script error: No such module "convert".; dominant males are normally lighter.[14] The male has a jumping display, often performed for long periods, which gives rise to the local name "johnny jump-up". This is accompanied by a persistent wheezing jweeee call,[15] jumping several times in a minute.[16] The extravagant display also has a cost of calling attention of the predator, thus displaying increased nest predation.[17] Predation is the main cause of breeding failure,[18] and predator vocalizations can cause an immune-related reaction to this species.[19] Nests are small cups of rootlets (diameter about 7.5 cm) found in herbaceous vegetation Script error: No such module "convert". high,[20] clustered at a landscape,[21] and placed preferably at high complex habitat spots.[22] Nests are built by both sexes.[18][23]
Blue-black grassquits will often form flocks when not breeding. They eat seeds, mostly on the ground.[24]
References
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