The spot-crowned barbet (''Capito maculicoronatus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Capitonidae The New World barbets are a family, Capitonidae, of 15 birds in the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans. The New World barbets are plump birds, with short necks and ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The spot-crowned barbet has two recognized subspecies, the nominate ''Capito maculicoronatus maculicoronatus'' and ''C. m. rubrilateralis''. Two additional subspecies, ''C. m. pirrensis'' and ''C. m. melas'', have been proposed but "appear indistinguishable from ''rubrilateralis''".Short, L.L., J. F. M. Horne, and A. Bonan (2020). Spot-crowned Barbet (''Capito maculicoronatus''), 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.spcbar1.01 retrieved May 25, 2021 The spot-crowned barbet and the orange-fronted barbet (''C. squamatus'') are

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

and may form a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021 left, 250px, Illustration of male by Romain Risso

Description

The spot-crowned barbet is long and weighs . The nominate male is mostly black above with a crown having brown-white spots. Its throat is white, its upper breast yellow to orange, and the lower breast and belly white with black spots. It has a splash of yellow to orange on the flanks. The female differs by having a black throat and upper breast. ''C. m. rubrilateralis'' has more white on its crown and its flank mark is orange to red.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of spot-crowned barbet is found from Panama's

Veraguas Province Veraguas () is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country. The capital is the city of Santiago de Veraguas. It is the only Panamanian province to border both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It covers an area of 10,587.6&n ...

east to the

Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending on each side o ...

. ''C. m. rubrilateralis'' is found from eastern Panama into Colombia, east to

Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part o ...

and south to

Valle Department Valle is one of the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The departmental capital is Nacaome. The department faces the Gulf of Fonseca and contains mangrove swamps; inland, it is very hot and dry. The department covers a total surface ...

. It usually inhabits wet

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

in both lowands and hill country and is also found in

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. It is mostly found at elevations between but up to in a few areas.

Behavior

Feeding

The spot-crowned barbet forages from mid level to the forest canopy for fruits, berries, and insects. It occasionally forages in small groups, and up to 10 have been recorded in fruiting trees. It is known to follow

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...

swarms.

Breeding

Observations of adult spot-crowned barbets in breeding condition, of nest excavation, and of fledglings appear to indicate a breeding season between December and late spring. One nest was attended by a male and two females.

Vocalization

The spot-crowned barbet's principal vocalization is " a series of harsh “kkaaak” notes, gradually shifting to “kkkaakkk” sounds; it has been described as both a song and a cal

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the spot-crowned barbet as being of Least Concern. It is uncommon to fairly common throughout its range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273822 spot-crowned barbet Birds of Panama Birds of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena spot-crowned barbet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot