The Drakensberg rockjumper or orange-breasted rockjumper (''Chaetops aurantius'') is a medium-sized insectivorous

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

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 ...

endemic to the

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s and rock outcrops of the

Drakensberg Mountains The Drakensberg ( Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within the ...

of southeastern

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. This

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

is closely related to the

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

Cape rockjumper The Cape rockjumper or rufous rockjumper (''Chaetops frenatus'') is a medium-sized insectivorous passerine bird endemic to the mountain Fynbos of southernmost South Africa. Taxonomy The Cape and Drakensberg rockjumpers were split into separa ...

''Chaetops frenatus''; the two species of ''Chaetops'' are the only living members of the

Chaetopidae The rockjumpers are medium-sized insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Chaetops'', which constitutes the entire family Chaetopidae. The two species, the Cape rockjumper, ''Chaetops frenatus'', and the Drakensberg rockjumper, ''Chaetop ...

(rockjumper family). This rockjumper is 23–25 cm long with a long black tail and strong legs. The male has a dark grey head with a thin white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

and a broad white moustache. The back and wings are dark grey. The underparts are orange and the rump is rufous red. The female and juvenile have a paler grey head, upperparts and wings, a duller head pattern, an orange rump, and

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...

underparts Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

. The call is a loud ''wheeoo''. The Cape rockjumper male has rufous red underparts, and the female and young are darker buff below than in ''C. aurantius''. This is a ground-nesting species which forages on rocky slopes and scree. It frequently perches on rocks. Breeding is often

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

; one or two additional individuals, usually a pair's offspring of the preceding breeding season, may assist the parents in territorial defence and alarm calling, and in the feeding of nestlings and fledglings.

Taxonomy

''Chaetops aurantius'' was described in 1867 by

Edgar Leopold Layard Edgar Leopold Layard MBOU, (23 July 1824 – 1 January 1900) was a British diplomat and a naturalist mainly interested in ornithology and to a lesser extent the molluscs. He worked for a significant part of his life in Ceylon and later ...

in his book ''The birds of South Africa''. He placed the genus ''Chaetops'' in the thrush family. However, DNA studies have shown that the rockjumpers are not closely related to the thrushes – they are possibly basal

passerida Passerida is, under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two parvorders contained within the suborder Passeri (standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder). While more recent research suggests that its sister parvorde ...

, and appear to be related to the rail-babbler and the

rockfowl The picathartes, rockfowl, or bald crows are a small genus of two passerine bird species forming the family Picathartidae found in the rain-forests of tropical west and central Africa. They have unfeathered heads, and feed on insects and inverteb ...

. Some authorities (notably Dickinson and Christidis) treat the two rockjumpers as a single species, ''Chaetops frenatus'', with two subspecies.

Gallery

File:Drakensberg Rockjumper (8451794558).jpg, left, A female with a caterpillar File:Immature Drakensberg rockjumper 2012 11 11 1939 crop.jpg, left, An immature Drakensberg rockjumper File:Layard 1867 Chaetops aurantius description.jpg, left, A copy of the original description by Layard.

References

External links

* * * Drakensberg/Orangebreasted Rockjumper
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q840179

Drakensberg rockjumper The Drakensberg rockjumper or orange-breasted rockjumper (''Chaetops aurantius'') is a medium-sized insectivorous passerine bird endemic to the alpine grasslands and rock outcrops of the Drakensberg Mountains of southeastern South Africa and Leso ...

Birds of Southern Africa

Taxa named by Edgar Leopold Layard