The blue-throated motmot (''Aspatha gularis'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
in the family
Momotidae. It is found in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...
,
Guatemala,
Honduras, and
Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
.
Taxonomy and systematics
The blue-throated motmot is
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
. It apparently has no close relatives.
[Snow, D. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Blue-throated Motmot (''Aspatha gularis''), 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.bltmot1.01 retrieved May 4, 2021]
Description
The blue-throated motmot is long and weighs . It has a long, graduated, tail that in contrast to that of most other motmots does not have racquet tips. The side of the adult's head is ochre with a black "ear" spot. It is mostly green above and paler green below. The throat is blue with a black spot just below it. The juvenile is duller and the green of the back is washed with olive.
[
]
Distribution and habitat
The blue-throated motmot is found from Oaxaca
)
, population_note =
, population_rank = 10th
, timezone1 = CST
, utc_offset1 = −6
, timezone1_DST = CDT
, utc_offset1_DST = −5
, postal_code_type = Postal ...
and Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil and Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 124 municipalities ...
in Mexico south and east through Guatemala and a bit of El Salvador to Honduras. It inhabits montane evergreen and pine forest of medium to high humidity. In elevation it ranges from in Mexico but in Honduras it is not found below .[
]
Behavior
Feeding
The blue-throated motmot forages by plucking insects, especially beetles, from foliage while flying. It also eats some fruit and apparently feeds fruit to nestlings.[
]
Breeding
The blue-throated motmot nests in a burrow that it excavates in an earth bank; the burrows can be up to long and often have bends in them. In Guatemala it lays eggs in April, and a fledgling was collected in late May in Mexico. The clutch size is three.[
]
Vocalization
The blue-throated motmot typically calls from a high exposed perch. It usually gives single "hoot" or "huuk" note
but sometimes strings them together as "hoodloodloodloodl...
[
]
Status
The IUCN has assessed the blue-throated motmot as being of Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...
. Though its population appears to be decreasing, its population and range are large enough to achieve that rating[
]
References
External links
Image at ADW
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1123969
blue-throated motmot
The blue-throated motmot (''Aspatha gularis'') is a species of bird in the family Momotidae. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The blue-throated motmot is monotypic. It apparently has no ...
Birds of Mexico
Birds of Guatemala
Birds of Honduras
blue-throated motmot
The blue-throated motmot (''Aspatha gularis'') is a species of bird in the family Momotidae. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The blue-throated motmot is monotypic. It apparently has no ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot