Spot-backed puffbird

The spot-backed puffbird was described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. In his Latin text Marcgrave used the name Matuitui which was the local name for the bird in the Tupi language.{{ cite book | last=Marcgrave | first=Georg | author-link=Georg Marcgrave | year=1648 | title=Historia Naturalis Brasiliae: Liber Quintus: Qui agit de Avibus | language=Latin | location=Lugdun and Batavorum (London and Leiden) | publisher=Franciscum Hackium and Elzevirium | page=217 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/289310 }} A series of later ornithologists based their own descriptions on that by Marcgrave. These include Francis Willughby in 1678,{{ cite book | last=Willughby | first=Francis | author-link=Francis Willughby | editor-last=Ray | editor-first=John | editor-link=John Ray | year=1678 | title=The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick | location=London | publisher=John Martyn | page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41441996 199]; Plate [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41442322 38] }} John Ray in 1713,{{ cite book | last=Ray | first=John | author-link=John Ray | year=1713 | title=Synopsis methodica avium & piscium | volume=Avium | language=Latin | location=London | publisher=William Innys | page=165, No. 3 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6355431 }} Mathurin Brisson in 1760,{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | volume=4 | language=French, Latin | pages=524–525 | location=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/289310 }} The absence of two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson had not examined a specimen. the Comte de Buffon in 1780,{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1780 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=7 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | pages=212–213 | chapter=Le Matuitui | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069720s/f256.item }} and John Latham in 1782.{{cite book| last=Latham | first=John | year=1782 | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=1, Part 2 | page=640, No. 28 | location=London | publisher= Printed for Benj. White | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33727280 }}

When the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1788 he included the spot-backed puffbird and cited descriptions by earlier ornithologists. He placed it with the kingfishers in the genus Alcedo and coined the binomial name Alcedo maculata.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=451 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2897051 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1948 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=6 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=14 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14477447 }} The specific epithet is Latin and means "spotted" or "blotched".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=236 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n236/mode/1up }} In 1807 the spot-backed puffbird was accurately described and illustrated from a specimen in the Paris museum by the French naturalist François Levaillant.{{ cite book | last=Levaillant | first=François | author-link=François Levaillant | date=1807 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Promerops, et des Guêpiers : Faisant Suite à Celle des Oiseaux de Paradis | chapter=Supplément aux Differents Genres D'Oiseaux Décrit Dans Les Deaux Premiers Volumes | location=Paris | publisher=Chez Denné le Jeune | page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47773868 44], Plate [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47773871 F] }} The spot-backed puffbird is now one of five species placed in the genus Nystalus that was introduced in 1863 by Jean Cabanis and Ferdinand Heine.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans, honeyguides | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/jacamars/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 March 2025 }}

Two subspecies are recognised:

• N. m. maculatus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – northeast, central Brazil
• N. m. striatipectus (Sclater, PL, 1854) – east Bolivia to central south Brazil, south through west Paraguay to central Argentina

The spot-backed puffbird has sometimes been split into two species with the subspecies N. m. maculatus known as the Caatinga puffbird and the subspecies N. m. striatipectus known as the Chaco puffbird.{{ cite journal | last=Silva | first=J.M.C. | date=1991 | title=Sistemática e biogeografia da superespécie Nystalus maculatus (Piciformes: Bucconidae) | language=Portuguese | journal=Ararajuba | volume=2 | pages=75–79 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277062809 }}

The spot-backed puffbird is {{convert|18|to|19|cm|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|32|to|38|g|oz|abbr=on}}. It has a dark brown crown with bold buffy spangles and a pale rufous collar on the hindneck. Its upperparts and wing coverts are dark brown with buffy spangles and bars. The long, narrow, tail has broad black and narrow buffy bars. The face is mostly off-white with dusky streaks that are darker to the rear; it has a buffy supercilium. The chin is white and the throat, upper breast, and sides of the neck are orange-red. The rest of the underparts are white with bold black spots on the upper breast and black streaks on the flanks. The bill is mostly red, the eye pale yellow, and the feet brownish olive.Rasmussen, P. C. and N. Collar (2020). Spot-backed Puffbird (Nystalus maculatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spbpuf1.01 retrieved November 2, 2021

The song is an "[u]ndulating 'tewre-tewtewretewtewre'", often sung as a duet or by three birds.

The spot-backed puffbirdis found in northeastern and central Brazil, as far south northwestern Argentina. It is a bird of the lowland and foothill cerrado, caatinga, and campo regions. It inhabits a variety of semi-open landscapes including the interior and edges of deciduous woodland, savanna, palm groves, shrub- and scrublands, and pastures. It is thought to be resident year round, though there might be some seasonal wandering in parts of its range.

The spot-backed puffbird hunts by sallying from a low perch to capture prey on the ground or foliage. Its diet is mostly insects including caterpillars.

The spot-backed puffbird's breeding phenology has not been fully documented. It nests in a leaf-lined cavity in a soil bank or level ground. The clutch size is two or three eggs.

The IUCN asseses the spot-backed puffbirdas being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and although its population has not been quantified, it is believed to be stable. It appears to be common throughout its range.

File:Nystalus maculatus 33007156.jpg|Caatinga puffbird nest opening

File:Nystalus maculatus 33007190.jpg|Caatinga puffbird nest

File:Nystalus maculatus 109686829.jpg|Caatinga puffbird

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Caatinga puffbird

Category:Birds of the Caatinga

Category:Birds of Brazil

Caatinga puffbird

Caatinga puffbird

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot