- Art Gallery -

Crinifer zonurus

Crinifer zonurus, Photo: Michael Lahanas

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Musophagiformes
Familia: Musophagidae
Subfamilia: Criniferinae
Genus: Crinifer
Species: Crinifer zonurus

Name

Crinifer zonurus (Rüppell, 1835)

Reference

Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehoring entdeck und beschreiben von Dr. Eduard Ruppel. Vogel. p.9 pl.4

Vernacular names
English: Eastern Grey Plantain-eater
Français: Touraco à queue barrée

-------

The Eastern Plantain-eater, Crinifer zonurus, also known as the Eastern Grey Plantain-eater, is a large member of the turaco family, a group of large arboreal near-passerine birds restricted to Africa.

This species is a resident breeder in open woodland habitats in tropical east Africa. It lays two or three eggs in a tree platform nest.

These are common, noisy and conspicuous birds, despite lacking the brilliant colours of relatives such as the Violet Turaco. They are 50 cm long, including a long tail. Their plumage is mainly grey above spotted with brown. The head, erectile crest, neck and breast are brown streaked with silver. The underparts are whitish, heavily streaked with brown.

Eastern Plantain-eater has a thick bright yellow bill, and shows a white wing bar in flight. The sexes are identical, but immatures have a black woolly head without silver streaking.

This bird is similar to the closely related Western Plantain-eater. However, Eastern Plantain-eater has white tail bars, and lacks the chest bars and dark wing feather shafts of its western relative.

This species feeds on fruit, especially figs, and other vegetable matter.

References

* BirdLife International (2004). Crinifer zonurus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

Biology Encyclopedia

Birds, Fine Art Prints

Birds Images

Source: Wikispecies, Wikipedia: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License