The green broadbill (''Calyptomena viridis'') also known as the lesser green broadbill is a small bird in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Calyptomenidae Calyptomenidae is a family of passerine birds found in Africa, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. There are six species in two genera. The species in this family were formerly included in the broadbill family Eurylaimidae The Eurylaimidae are a ...

. It was formerly classified in the family

Eurylaimidae The Eurylaimidae are a family of suboscine passerine birds that occur from the eastern Himalayas to Indonesia and the Philippines. The family previously included the sapayoa from the Neotropics, the asity, asities from Madagascar, and the Calyp ...

, a group of closely related birds that share the name "broadbill".

Taxonomy

There are three subspecies recognized: * ''Calyptomena viridis viridis'' Raffles, 1822 - the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

from

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

* ''Calyptomena viridis gloriosa'' Deignan, 1947 -

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Nias Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...

, the

Lingga Islands The Lingga Regency () is a group of 600 islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore and along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are due south of the populated Riau Archipelago, known ...

, and the

Natuna Islands Natuna Regency is an islands regency located in the northernmost part of the Province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. It contains at least 154 islands, of which 127 of them are reported as uninhabited. This archipelago, with a land area of 1,978.4 ...

* ''Calyptomena viridis siberu'' Chasen & Kloss, 1926 -

Mentawai Islands Mentawai may refer to: * Mentawai Islands, Indonesia ** Mentawai Strait ** Mentawai people, ethnic group of Indonesia ** Mentawai language, their Austronesian language {{dab Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

Prior to revisions by the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in 2022, the mainland subspecies went by the name ''caudacuta'', while ''viridis'' referred to the Greater Sundaic subspecies. Based on several previous studies finding problems with this nomenclature, the International Ornithological Congress replaced ''caudacuta'' with ''viridis'', while ''gloriosa'' replaced the former ''viridis''.

Distribution and habitat

The green broadbill is distributed in broadleaved evergreen forests of

, and the

where it frequents lowland and lower

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

rainforest.

Description

The bird is about 17 cm long, plumaged in brilliant green with a black ear patch, widely gaped bill, rounded head, short tail and three black bars on each wing. The

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...

itself is very weak and almost hidden by the crest above it. Both sexes are similar. The female is duller and has no black markings on its ear patch and

wing coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

Behaviour

It is often overlooked, as it sits motionless inside the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

or just below, quickly flying to a new location if disturbed. Its foliage-green color provides excellent camouflage. It feeds largely on soft

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

s. The broadbill's feeding habits helps to distribute the seeds of the fig around the forest floor. The female usually lays between two and three whitish eggs, and the young fledge after twenty-two to twenty-three days.

Status and conservation

Although this species remains common in many parts of its large range, it is considered Near Threatened as it is sensitive to habitat loss and degradation, which are likely to be causing population declines throughout its range. Due to continuing habitat loss, the green broadbill is evaluated as Near Threatened on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

of Threatened Species.

References

* *

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Red Data Book
{{Taxonbar, from=Q305351 Calyptomena Birds of Malesia Birds described in 1822 Taxa named by Thomas Stamford Raffles