Galbula

<i>Galbula</i>

Galbula

Genus of birds

Galbula is the type and largest genus of the jacamar family (Galbulidae) of piciform birds, and its suborder Galbulae. Sometimes, the Piciformes are split in two, with the Galbulae upranked to full order Galbuliformes.[1]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

The genus was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the green-tailed jacamar (Galbula galbula) as the type species.[2][3] The name galbula is the Latin word for a small yellow bird.[4]

They are smallish to mid-sized forest birds of the Neotropics, with long pointed bills, elongated tails, and small feet. Colored in metallic iridescent hues – typically greenish – at least on the upperside, some have a red or brownish belly. Males and females are generally similar in appearance, but in most species differ in minor plumage details. As usual for Piciformes, they nest in burrows they dig out themselves. In the case of this genus, nests are dug in earthen banks along rivers or roads, or in termitaria. As with other jacamars but otherwise unknown among Piciformes, their chicks do not hatch naked. They have a piping song and feed in typical jacamar fashion, by catching flying arthropods, typically larger insects such has butterflies.[1]

Most Galbula species are fairly common in their natural range, which despite rampant deforestation is still extensive. Only the coppery-chested jacamar (G. pastazae) occurs in a more restricted region in the Andes foothills, and is considered a threatened species.[1]

Species

Ten living species are presently recognized in this genus:[5]

More information Image, Scientific name ...

A fossil species, Galbula hylochoreutes, has been described from the mid-Miocene of Colombia. It was apparently more specialized for aerial feeding than the living species.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Galbula.
  1. [1]
    Tobias, J.; Züchner T. & T.A. de Melo Júnior (2002) "Family Galbulidae (Jacamars)". in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (2002). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-37-7
  2. [2]
    Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 42, Vol. 4, p. 86.
  3. [3]
    Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 5.
  4. [4]
    Jobling, J.A. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  5. [5]
    Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Jacamars, puffbirds, toucans, barbets, honeyguides". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. [6]
    Rasmussen, Tab, 1997. Birds. In: R.F. Kay; R.H. Madden; R.L. Cifelli & J.J. Flynn (eds.) Vertebrate paleontology in the neotropics - the Miocene fauna of La Venta, Colombia. Smithsonian Institution Press.
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