violet-backed starling
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = {{CSS image crop|Image= Violet-backed starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster verreauxi) male.jpg
|bSize=260|cWidth=220|cHeight=140|oTop=30|oLeft=35|Location=center}}
| image_caption = Male
| image2 = {{CSS image crop|Image= Violet-backed starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster verreauxi) female.jpg
|bSize=260|cWidth=220|cHeight=140|oTop=30|oLeft=10|Location=center}}
| image2_caption = Female
both C. l. verreauxi
Damaraland, Namibia
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Cinnyricinclus
| parent_authority = Lesson, 1840
| species = leucogaster
| authority = (Boddaert, 1783)
| synonyms = Turdus leucogaster Boddaert, 1783
}}
The violet-backed starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster), also known as the plum-coloured starling or amethyst starling, or Ndambamukula in the Luvenḓa (Venḓa) language, is a relatively small species (17 cm) of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is the only member of the genus Cinnyricinclus. This strongly sexually dimorphic species is found widely in the woodlands and savannah forest edges of mainland sub-Saharan Africa. It is rarely seen on the ground, but instead found in trees and other locations away from the ground.
Taxonomy
The violet-backed starling was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1775 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1775 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=6 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | pages=104–105 | chapter=Le merle violet à ventre blanc de Juida | language=fr | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42335102 }} The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the {{Lang|fr|Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle}}, which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Merle violet à ventre blanc, de Juida | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=7 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 648 Fig. 1 | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35219121 }} Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Turdus leucogaster in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.{{cite book | last=Boddaert | first=Pieter | author-link=Pieter Boddaert | year=1783 | title=Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés | place=Utrecht | page=39, Number 648 Fig. 1 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27822659 | language=fr }} The type locality is Benin in West Africa.{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1962 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=98 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485471 }} The violet-backed starling is now the only species placed in the genus Cinnyricinclus that was introduced by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1840.{{ cite journal | last=Lesson | first=René | author-link=René Lesson | year=1840 | title=Notices ornithologiques | journal=Revue Zoologique | volume=3 | pages=261–275 [272] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13714276 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Nuthatches, Wallcreeper, treecreepers, mockingbirds, starlings, oxpeckers | website=IOC World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/nuthatch/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=1 September 2019 }} The violet-backed starling was designated as the type species by the English naturalist George Robert Gray in 1855.{{ cite book | last=Gray | first=George Robert | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1855 | title=Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum | location=London | publisher=British Museum | page=66 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17136705}} The genus name is combines Cinnyris, a genus of sunbirds that had been introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816, and the Neo-Latin {{Lang|la|cinclus}} meaning "thrush". The specific leucogaster is from the Ancient Greek {{Transliteration|grc|leukos}} meaning "white" and {{Transliteration|grc|gastēr}} meaning "belly".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997 | url-access=limited | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997/page/n108 108], 223 }}
=Subspecies=
Three subspecies are recognised:
- C. l. leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783) – Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania
- C. l. arabicus Grant, CHB & Mackworth-Praed, 1942 – east Sudan to northwest Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula
- C. l. verreauxi (Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870) – south DR Congo to west Tanzania south to Botswana, northeast South Africa and Mozambique
Description
The violet-backed starling is a sexually dimorphic species with adults reaching a length of about {{convert|18|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}. The male has an iridescent violet head and back and pure white underparts. The female has a thrush-like appearance with brown, boldly-streaked upper parts and white, heavily-streaked underparts. Both sexes have yellow irises and black bills and legs.{{cite book|author1=Craig, Adrian |author2=Feare, Chris |title=Starlings and Mynas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpiuraQ-rfQC&pg=PA224 |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4081-3522-8 |pages=224–227}}
Distribution and habitat
The violet-backed starling is a common bird in Sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in most locations with the exception of the dense rainforest of the Congo Basin, and the more arid parts of southwestern Africa. It is found in open woodland, gallery forests, forest verges and clearings. In the Chyulu Hills of Kenya, it occurs at altitudes up to {{convert|2100|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Behaviour
The diet of the violet-backed starling includes fruits, seeds and arthropods. It sometimes hawks for insects in a manner similar to flycatchers. It largely feeds in the canopy, seldom foraging on the ground. The nest is usually located in a crevice in a tree within a few metres of the ground. Nesting material includes green leaves and dung. The female will incubate the clutch of two to four eggs, which are pale blue with reddish/brown spots, for 12–14 days. The male will help feed chicks until they fledge after about 21 days.
Gallery
File:Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Pilanesberg 11.jpg|Male violet-backed starling, Pilanesberg NP, South Africa
File:Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Pilanesberg 6.jpg|Female violet-backed starling, Pilanesberg NP, South Africa
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons|Cinnyricinclus leucogaster}}
- [https://sabap2.birdmap.africa/docs/sabap1/761.pdf "Plumcoloured Starling"]. The Atlas of Southern African Birds.
- [https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Cinnyricinclus-leucogaster Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the violet-backed starling]
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Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa