The Chiriqui quail-dove or rufous-breasted quail-dove (''Zentrygon chiriquensis'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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

Columbidae Columbidae is a bird Family (biology), family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the Order (biology), order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in ...

. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

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 Chiriqui quail-dove 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 "unisp ...

. It was originally described in genus ''Geotrygon'' and is sometimes considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the

white-faced quail-dove The white-faced quail-dove (''Zentrygon albifacies'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.Soberanes-González, C. A., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, M. d. C. Arizmendi, ...

(''Z. albifacies'') and the

lined quail-dove The lined quail-dove (''Zentrygon linearis'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The lined quail-dove's taxonomic history is complex. It was ori ...

(''Z. linearis'').

Description

The male Chiriqui quail-dove is long and the female . Adults weigh between . The adult male has a slate gray crown that is paler on the forehead and darker on the nape. The rest of the face is buffy with a black malar stripe and a thin black line through the eye. The eye is brownish orange surrounded by bare red skin. The upperparts transition from chestnut on the shoulders through purplish on the upper back to olivaceous with a greenish gloss on the lower back. The chin is buffy white that darkens to reddish on the chest and sides and then lightens to cinnamon buff on the belly; the flanks are a darker cinnamon. Females are very similar, but their breast is usually darker. Juveniles have a brown crown and upperparts and the underparts have dull black bars.

Distribution and habitat

The Chiriqui quail-dove is resident from the

Cordillera de Guanacaste The Cordillera de Guanacaste, also called Guanacaste Cordillera, are a volcanic mountain range in northern Costa Rica near the border with Nicaragua. The mountain range stretches 110 km from northwest to the southeast and contains mostly comp ...

in northern Costa Rica to Chiriquí and

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 ...

s in western Panama. It inhabits the understory of drier parts of the

Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mount ...

. On the Caribbean side it generally ranges from but can be found locally as high as . On the Pacific side it usually ranges between and occasionally up to .

Behavior

Feeding

The Chiriqui quail-dove forages on the ground, singly or in pairs. Its diet is seeds, fallen fruit, and small invertebrates. It usually feeds in cover but can be seen along roads and trails in early morning.

Breeding

The Chiriqui quail-dove's nesting season includes August and September but its extent is not known. It builds a shallow cup nest of twigs and leaves and places it on a tree branch. The clutch size is two eggs.

Vocalization

The Chiriqui quail-dove's song is "a single monotonous note ''wooOoh'', gradually swelling in amplitude." It sings "incessantly during breeding season from a perch".

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 Chiriqui quail-dove as being of Least Concern based on the size of its range and population estimates, though the population is thought to be declining. Little is known about its biology and ecology, and research is needed "as well as surveys to establish tstrue status."

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27074693 Chiriquí quail-dove Endemic birds of the Talamancan montane forests Chiriquí quail-dove Chiriquí quail-dove Taxonomy articles created by Polbot