Yariguies Brush-finch
Encyclopedia
The Yariguies Brush-finch (Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum) is a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Yellow-breasted Brush-finch
Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch
The Rufous-naped Brush Finch , also known as the Cloud-forest Brush-Finch, is a species of bird in the family Emberizidae. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of Atlapetes rufinucha....

, discovered in 2004 in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

.

Description

The feathers of the breast, abdomen, and throat are yellow; those of the coverts, primaries, secondaries, scapulars, auriculars, lores, and tail are black; the crown feathers are russet. It is unique among its conspecifics because it has a jet black back, wing and tail.

Distribution and habitat

Its habitat is the remote cloud rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 in the northern Colombia. The pristine area where the birds live is one of the last remaining such Andean cloud forests in the country. The government has established a 190,000 Ha park in the region (Donegan & Huertas 2005; Huertas & Donegan 2006). The discovery was made by Thomas Donegan, of Fundación ProAves and Blanca Huertas, of the Natural History Museum and University College London, together with Elkin Briceno of CDMB. The research team had studied the isolated and densely vegetated region in various expeditions over a period of three years. Some regions had to be reached by all day hikes or helicopter drop.

Species discovery

The bird has been discovered in the remote Yariguies
Yariguies
The Yariguí people were an indigenous Colombian tribe that gave their name to a mountainous area they once inhabited in the Andean cloud forest...

 mountains in an expedition co-led by Thomas Donegan of Fundación ProAves
Fundación ProAves
Fundación ProAves is a nonprofit environmental organization in Colombia established in 1998. Its primary aims are to protects birds of conservation concern and their habitats across Colombia.ProAves has over 60 full-time professional staff...

 and Blanca Huertas, a curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. According the researchers, the region was so little explored that several more hitherto undescribed birds and butterflies are found there (Donegan & Huertas, 2006). Huertas, a lepidopterologist by training, found several taxa of butterflies new to science (Huertas & Arias 2007). Further information about the biological exploration of the region is found in expedition reports (Donegan & Huertas 2005; Huertas & Donegan 2006). The vernacular name "Yariguies Brush-finch" was selected because the Yellow-breasted Brush Finch, as a subspecies of which it is currently classified, is to be split
Lumpers and splitters
Lumping and splitting refers to a well-known problem in any discipline which has to place individual examples into rigorously defined categories. The lumper/splitter problem occurs when there is the need to create classifications and assign examples to them, for example schools of literature,...

 into several species, and it is not clear at the moment to which of these the newly-described bird would belong (Donegan & Huertas, 2006).

Etymology

The bird is named after the Yariguies
Yariguies
The Yariguí people were an indigenous Colombian tribe that gave their name to a mountainous area they once inhabited in the Andean cloud forest...

 indigenous tribe who give their name to the mountain range where the bird was found. Serranía de los Yariguíes was declared a national park last year by the Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n government and a large forest nature reserve was recently established in the region by Fundación ProAves
Fundación ProAves
Fundación ProAves is a nonprofit environmental organization in Colombia established in 1998. Its primary aims are to protects birds of conservation concern and their habitats across Colombia.ProAves has over 60 full-time professional staff...

, Colombia's bird conservation NGO.

External links

  • Striking new bird discovered in South America. Daily Mail
    Daily Mail
    The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

    , October 8, 2006. Retrieved 2006-OCT-09.
  • Groups find colorful bird in Colombia Associated Press, Lauren Dake, October 9, 2006
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