The common sunbird-asity or sunbird asity (''Neodrepanis coruscans'') 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

Philepittidae The asities are a family (biology), family of birds, Philepittidae, that are Endemism, endemic to Madagascar. The asities consist of four species in two genus, genera. The ''Neodrepanis'' species are known as sunbird-asities and were formerly kn ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

Description

The genus ''Neodrepanis'' is characterised by a tiny body with a short tail, a fine, strongly decurved bill and, during the breeding season, strong sexual dichromatism. Males in breeding plumage are brilliant blue and black above and variably bright yellow below, with extraordinary blue and green facial caruncles. Females, males in non-breeding plumage and immatures are dull blue-green above, lack caruncles and are variably yellowish below; some female-plumaged birds (at least for Common Sunbird Asity) have a half-sized caruncle and may be immature males. In winter, males are often seen with traces of breeding plumage coloration. Male common sunbird-asities are duller than yellow-bellied in almost all respects. The former have brilliant royal blue-fringed back crown, nape, mantle and scapular feathers, and narrow but fairly conspicuous yellow fringes to the secondaries and greater and median wing coverts. Their underparts are dull, deep yellow, with strong olive-brown streaking in the centre of the breast; the flanks, belly and undertail coverts are unstreaked and somewhat brighter. The caruncle is almost square and turquoise-blue, rather greener around the eye. It extends only a short distance in front of the eye, and is not connected to the area of blue (basally) and green (distally) bare skin that overlies the basal quarter of the bill.

References

common sunbird-asity common sunbird-asity Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Tyranni-stub