oxpecker

The genus Buphagus was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson with the yellow-billed oxpecker as the type species.{{ 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 | language=fr, la | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010430 Volume 1, p. 32]; [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36011768 Volume 2, p. 436] }} The name comes from Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), meaning "ox", and φάγος (phágos), meaning "eater".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/buphagus | access-date=11 May 2018 }}

According to the more recent studies of Muscicapoidea phylogeny, the oxpeckers are an ancient line related to Mimidae (mockingbirds and thrashers) and starlings but not particularly close to either.{{cite journal|last1=Cibois|first1=A.|last2=Cracraft |first2=J.|year=2004 | title=Assessing the passerine 'tapestry': phylogenetic relationships of the Muscicapoidea inferred from nuclear DNA sequences|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=32|issue=1|pages=264–273| doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2003.12.002|pmid=15186812 }}{{cite journal|last1=Zuccon|first1=Dario|last2=Cibois |first2=Anne |last3=Pasquet |first3=Eric |last4=Ericson |first4=Per G.P.|year=2006|title=Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=41|issue=2|pages=333–344| doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.007 |pmid=16806992|bibcode=2006MolPE..41..333Z }}{{ cite journal | last1=Lovette | first1= I.J. | last2=Rubenstein | first2=D.R. | year=2007 | title=A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the starlings (Aves: Sturnidae) and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae): congruent mtDNA and nuclear trees for a cosmopolitan avian radiation | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=44 | issue= 3 | pages=1031–1056 | doi= 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.03.017 | pmid=17502157| bibcode= 2007MolPE..44.1031L }} Considering the known biogeography of these groups, the most plausible explanation seems that the oxpecker lineage originated in Eastern or Southeastern Asia like the other two. This would make the two species of Buphagus something like living fossils, and demonstrates that such remnants of past evolution can possess striking and unique autapomorphic adaptations.

The genus contains two species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Nuthatches, Wallcreeper, treecreepers, mockingbirds, starlings, oxpeckers | work=World Bird List Version 8.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/nuthatch/| publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=11 May 2018 }}

{{Species table |genus=Buphagus |authority-name=Brisson|authority-year= 1760 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Yellow-billed oxpecker|binomial=Buphagus africanus

|image=File:Yellow-billed oxpeckers (Buphagus africanus africanus) on zebra.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year= 1766|authority-not-original=

|range= most of sub-Saharan Africa

|range-image=File:Buphagus africanus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| B. a. subsp. africanus Linnaeus, 1766

| B. a. subsp. langi Chapin, 1921

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Red-billed oxpecker|binomial=Buphagus erythrorynchus

|image=File:Red-billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorynchus) adult (L) sub-adult (R) on impala.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Stanley|authority-year= 1814|authority-not-original=yes

|range= mainly east Africa

|range-image=File:Buphagus erythrorhynchus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

The oxpeckers are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, where they occur in most open habitats. They are absent from the driest deserts and the rainforests. Their distribution is restricted by the presence of their preferred prey, specific species of ticks, and the animal hosts of those ticks. The two species of oxpecker are sympatric over much of East Africa and may even occur on the same host animal. The nature of the interactions between the two species is unknown.

File:Oxpeckers on Kudu.jpgs on female greater kudu]]

File:Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus), Masi Mara.jpg on a wildebeest]]

Oxpeckers graze exclusively on the bodies of large mammals. Certain species are seemingly preferred, whereas others, like the Lichtenstein's hartebeest or topi are generally avoided. Smaller antelope such as lechwe, duikers and reedbuck are also avoided; the smallest regularly used species is the impala, probably because of the heavy tick load and social nature of that species. In many parts of their range they now feed on cattle, but avoid camels. They feed on ectoparasites, particularly ticks, as well as insects infesting wounds and the flesh and blood of some wounds as well. They are sometimes classified as parasites, because they open wounds on the animals' backs.

Oxpecker/mammal interactions are the subject of some debate and ongoing research.{{ cite journal | last1=Mikula | first1= P. | last2=Hadrava | first2=J. | last3=Albrecht | first3=T. | last4=Tryjanowski | first4=P. | year=2018 | title=Large-scale assessment of commensalistic–mutualistic associations between African birds and herbivorous mammals using internet photos | journal=PeerJ | volume= 6:e4520 | doi=10.7717/peerj.4520 | doi-access=free | pmid=29576981 | pmc=5863707 | page=e4520}} They were originally thought to be an example of mutualism, but recent evidence suggests that oxpeckers may be parasites instead.{{ cite journal | last1=Weeks | first1=P. | year=2000 | title=Red-billed oxpeckers: vampires or tickbirds? | journal=Behavioral Ecology | volume=11 | issue=2 | pages=154–160 | doi=10.1093/beheco/11.2.154 | doi-access=free}} Oxpeckers do eat ticks, but often the ticks have already fed on the ungulate host, and no statistically significant link has been shown between oxpecker presence and reduced ectoparasite load. Oxpeckers have been observed to open new wounds and enhance existing ones in order to drink the blood of their perches. Oxpeckers also feed on the earwax and dandruff of mammals; less is known about the possible benefits of this to the mammal, but it is suspected that this is also a parasitic behaviour. Some oxpeckers' hosts are intolerant of their presence.{{cite journal|doi=10.1002/zoo.20013|last1=McElligott|first1=A.G.|last2=Maggini |first2=I. |last3=Hunziker |first3=L. |last4=Konig |first4=B.|year=2004|title=Interactions between red-billed oxpeckers and black rhinos in captivity | journal=Zoo Biology|volume=23|issue=4|pages=347–354}} Elephants and some antelope will actively dislodge the oxpeckers when they land. However there have been noted instances of elephants allowing oxpeckers to eat parasites off of them.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=hCRNnf9hbBE&pp=ygUTT3hwZWNrZXJzIEVsZXBoYW50cw%3D%3D |title=Odzala: Islands In The Forest |date=2014-04-28 |last=National Geographic Creative |access-date=2024-09-13 |via=YouTube}} Other species tolerate oxpeckers while they search for ticks on their faces, which one author says "appears ... to be an uncomfortable and invasive process."{{Cite book | first = Adrian | last = Craig | editor-first = Josep | editor-last = del Hoyo | editor2-first = Andrew | editor2-last = Elliott | editor3-first = David | editor3-last = Christie | contribution = Family Buphagidae (Oxpeckers) | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14, Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows | year = 2009 | place = Barcelona | publisher = Lynx Edicions | isbn = 978-84-96553-50-7 |pages = 642–653| contribution-url = http://www.lynxeds.com/hbw/family-text/hbw-14-family-text-buphagidae-oxpeckers}}

File:Red-billed Oxpecker Eggs JM.jpg hair, Kenya]]

The breeding season of the oxpeckers, in at least one location, is linked to the rainy season, which affects the activity of their mammalian hosts and the tick loads of those hosts. Both courtship and copulation occur on their hosts as well. They nest in holes, usually in trees but sometimes in other types of cavity, including holes in walls. The nests are lined with grasses and often with hair plucked from their hosts and even livestock such as sheep which are not usually used. The typical clutch is between two and three eggs, but the red-billed oxpecker may lay up to five eggs.

Red-billed oxpeckers have been known to roost in reeds and trees. Studies of large savanna herbivores using cameras at night have shown that both species of oxpecker (but more often in yellow-billed oxpecker) may also roost on the bodies of herbivores, hanging under the insides of the thighs of giraffe and on top of impala and buffalo.{{Cite journal|last1=Palmer|first1=Meredith S.|last2=Packer|first2=Craig|date=2018|title=Giraffe bed and breakfast: Camera traps reveal Tanzanian yellow-billed oxpeckers roosting on their large mammalian hosts|journal=African Journal of Ecology|language=en|volume=56|issue=4|pages=882–884|doi=10.1111/aje.12505|issn=0141-6707|doi-access=free|bibcode=2018AfJEc..56..882P }}

{{Reflist}}

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Category:Hematophages

Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa

Category:Parasitic vertebrates