Jocotoco Antpitta
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The jocotoco antpitta (''Grallaria ridgelyi'') is an
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
species of bird in the family
Grallariidae Grallariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antpittas. They are between long, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gnateaters, Conopophagidae. T ...
. It is found in
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
and
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
.


Taxonomy and systematics

The jocotoco antpitta 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 ...
. Its closest relatives appear to be the
chestnut-naped antpitta The chestnut-naped antpitta (''Grallaria nuchalis'') is a species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The chestnut-naped antpitta has three subspecies, the nominate ''G.  ...
(''G. muchalis'') and the pale-billed antpitta (''G. carrikeri''). The jocotoco antpitta's
specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
honors the
ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
Robert S. Ridgely, who took part in the initial documentation of this species in 1997. The
common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...
refers to the local name of the bird, ''jocotoco'', which is
onomatopoetic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...
after its hooting call.


Description

''Grallaria'' antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills ndvery short tails". The jocotoco antpitta is the largest member of its family. It is long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black crown and brownish olive nape. They have a large, somewhat shaggy, fan-shaped white patch from the bill to below the eye. Their ear
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 ...
are gray. Their upperparts are brownish olive with a black wash that lessens from the mantle to the rump. Their tail is reddish brown. Their flight feathers have blackish inner webs and cinnamon outer webs, and their upperwing coverts are brownish olive with a black band. Their throat is snowy white. Their underparts are mostly light gray that is darker on the flanks which also have a brownish olive wash. Their undertail coverts are brownish olive with fine black bars. Both sexes have a dark red to crimson reddish brown iris, a black bill, and blue-gray legs and feet. Juveniles are similar to adults but more muted and with a chestnut crown.Greeney, H. F. (2020). Jocotoco Antpitta (''Grallaria ridgelyi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.jocant1.01 retrieved September 5, 2024Schulenberg, T.S., D.F. Stotz, D.F. Lane, J.P. O’Neill, and T.A. Parker III. 2010. ''Birds of Peru''. Revised and updated edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Plate 306


Distribution and habitat

The jocotoco antpitta is known only from a very small number of locations in southeastern Ecuador and adjacent Peru. It was originally believed to be limited to the upper
Chinchipe River The Chinchipe River is a river on the border between Ecuador and Peru. It rises in Ecuador, in the Zamora-Chinchipe Province, in the Podocarpus National Park. Then it flows through the Piura Region, and the Cajamarca Region in the San Ignacio Pr ...
drainage in
Zamora-Chinchipe Zamora Chinchipe (), Province of Zamora Chinchipe is a province of the Republic of Ecuador, located at the southeastern end of the Amazon Basin, which shares borders with the Ecuadorian provinces of Azuay and Morona Santiago to the north, Loja ...
, Ecuador, but in 2006 a population was discovered in
Cordillera del Cóndor The Cordillera del Cóndor (Condor mountain range) is a mountain range in the eastern Andes that is shared by and part of the international border between Ecuador and Peru. The range extends approximately 150 km north to south and its m ...
in
Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...
, Peru. It inhabits steep slopes within wet, dense, mossy forest with ''
Chusquea ''Chusquea'' is a genus of evergreen bamboos in the grass family. Most of them are native to mountain habitats in Latin America, from Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina. They are sometimes referred to as South American mountain bamboos. Unl ...
''
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
stands and silvery-leaved ''
Cecropia ''Cecropia'' is a Neotropical genus consisting of 61 recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees. The genus consists of pioneer trees in the more or less humid parts of the Neotropics, with the majority of the speci ...
'' trees. In Ecuador it occurs between . The observations in Peru were made at about .


Behavior


Movement

The jocotoco antpitta is resident throughout its range.


Feeding

The jocotoco antpitta is one of several antpittas that regularly come to feeding stations set up to view them. There they are fed earthworms, which are thought to also be a large part of their natural diet. In the wild they also feed on
arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
s and other invertebrates. They are almost entirely terrestrial, seeking prey by probing leaf litter with their bill and flipping it with their bill and feet. They occasionally follow
army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...
swarms to capture prey disturbed by the ants.


Breeding

The jocotoco antpitta's breeding season is not known but includes November. The first nest discovered was a deep cup made mostly from decaying leaves lined with fine rootlets and fern stems. It was supported by a dense
bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...
tuft against the trunk of a tree above the ground. It contained one nestling, which both parents provisioned. The incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care are not known.


Vocalization

The jocotoco antpitta's song is "a slow series of 6-10 (or more) identical notes produced at 0.5-0.6 kHz, and delivered at 1-2 second intervals". The note has been described as "a low-pitched hooting 'hoo' " and the song can last for a minute or more. It has been likened to a dog bark and a cow's moo. One call is "a staccato ''hoó-có-kurr''" which is the inspiration for the species' common name. The species typically sings around dawn and dusk but is very responsive to recordings of its song and will answer them at any time of day.


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 jocotoco antpitta as Endangered (B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)). It has an estimated area of occupancy of within an overall range of about . Its estimated population of 480 to 600 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. The Tapichalaca Biological Reserve was established in 1998 by the
Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco Conservation Foundation) is an Ecuadorians, Ecuadorian Non-governmental organization, non-governmental environmental organization. It was established to purchase and protect land important to the conse ...
to protect the species' core range, and it also occurs at the far southern end of
Podocarpus National Park Podocarpus National Park () is a national park located in the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Loja, in the south-east of Ecuador. It was created in 1982. It covers , from two spurs of the eastern range of the Andes to the basins of the Na ...
. However, " ch of the range is threatened by logging and gold mining, including areas within Podocarpus National Park". Its actual area of occurrence may be as small as .


References


External links

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BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

Jocotoco Antpitta ''Grallaria ridgelyi'' Species Factsheet
*
World Land Trust World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. Acting on its tagline of "Saving Land, Saving Species", the trust raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land, and therefore species, in Africa, Asia, and Central and South A ...

Jocotoco Antpitta ''Grallaria ridgelyi''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1263452 jocotoco antpitta Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Peruvian Andes jocotoco antpitta jocotoco antpitta Endangered animals