Cyanolanius madagascarinus, Photo: Michael Lahanas
Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Telluraves
Cladus: Australaves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Corvida
Superfamilia: Corvoidea
Familia: Vangidae
Genus: Cyanolanius
Species: Cyanolanius madagascarinus
Subspecies: C. m. bensoni - C. m. comorensis - C. m. madagascarinus
Name
Cyanolanius madagascarinus (Linnaeus, 1766)
References
Systema Naturae ed.12 p. 306
Vernacular names
català: Vanga blau
English: Blue Vanga
español: Vanga azul
فارسی: وانگای آبی رنگ
français: Artamie azurée
magyar: Azúrkék vanga
italiano: Vanga azzurro
Nederlands: Blauwe vanga
polski: Wanga błękitna
русский: Синяя ванга
svenska: Blå vanga
The Madagascar blue vanga (Cyanolanius madagascarinus) is a bird species in the family Vangidae. It is found in Madagascar, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.[1]
Taxonomy and systematics
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the blue vanga in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name Le pie-griesche bleu de Madagascar and the Latin name Lanius Madagascariensis coeruleus.[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.[3] One of these was the blue vanga. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Loxia madagascarina and cited Brisson's work.[4] The species is now placed in the genus Cyanolanius that was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854.[5]
Description
Adult male blue vanga.
The blue vanga is 16–19 cm (6.3–7.5 in) long and weighs 19.5–25.5 g (0.69–0.90 oz).
Adult males are bright blue in color, with a black line through the eye which extends to base of the bill, as well as above and below the bill. It has a paler blue eye-ring. The tail as well as edges and tips of the wings are black in colour. The underparts and throat are bright white in colour. Females tend to be slightly duller in colour than males, with the underparts also being off-white in colour with a pale orange or light buffy wash. The wings are slightly tinged greenish.
Juveniles have a grayish-blue head, with the rest of the upperparts being dark greenish olive. Their tail is similar in appearance to an adult female's, but has a duller green-blue pattern. The throat is dirty-white in colour, the rest of the underparts being olive-buff.
C. madagarensis has a vivid pale or cold blue beak, with a dark tip and cutting edges in adult males, and a dark brown with similar pattern in adult female. Juveniles have a black bill with pale pink base. The iris is sky-blue or greenish blue in males, and brown in females and juveniles. The legs are black in male and gray in females.
Vocalisations
Calls are described as a very characteristic tcccch, which is sometimes repeated to form a chrr-crrk-crrk-crrrrk-crk-crk, similar to the chabert vanga's call. The song can be faster or slower, and the first note is usually of a higher pitch. They also make a teea teea teea or a harsh scheet, which is thought to be an alarm call. Race comorensis has similar calls, but also makes a grating erch-chhh-crkk-chh-chhh-chhh-crrk or a harsher crew-crew-crew.[6]
Behaviour and ecology
Diet
Mainly feeds on insects, including beetles, crickets, cicadas, caterpillars, as well as spiders. They also occasionally feed upon berries. Birds on Mohéli have been recorded eating fruit.
It forages in the middle and upper levels of trees. Feeding often occurs while hanging upside down from its feet. Most food is gleaned from the substrate, and it also sally-gleans from branches and leaves. It usually forages in groups of up to 6 birds n the non-breeding season, and in pairs while nesting. It has also been observed foraging in mixed-species flocks throughout its range.[6]
Breeding
The breeding season is thought to be from October–December. Juveniles are taken care of by both sexes. The observed nests were placed around 12 m (39 ft) above the ground, near a fork between near-vertical, slender branches. The nest is cup-shaped, and made out of fine twigs and a pale down-like material.
Eggs are pale blue to green and have mid-sized lilac-gray to red-brown speckles, which are the densest at the larger end. They are 19.9–21.2 × 15.8–16.2 mm in size.[6]
Distribution
The species is found in northern, eastern, and western Madagascar. It inhabits the midstory and canopy of deciduous dry forests in the western part of its range, and evergreen humid forest in the west. It has also been observed in littoral forests, the adjacent second growth, and even in mangroves. It occurs up to an elevation of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), although it has been reported up to elevations of 1,600 m (5,200 ft). [6]
Status
The nominate race on Madagascar faces few threats due to its large range and population. It is classified by the IUCN Red List as least concern.[7]
References
BirdLife International (2016). "Cyanolanius madagascarinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T103703584A94147463. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103703584A94147463.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 2. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 197–200, Plate 16 fig 3. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 306.
Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1854). "Notes sur les collections rapportées en 1853, par M. A. Delattre, de son voyage en Californie et dans le Nicaragua". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences. 38: 387, 538.
Kirwan, Guy M.; Yamagishi, Satoshi; del Hoyo, Josep; Collar, Nigel; Nakamura, Masahiko (2020-03-04), Billerman, Shawn M.; Keeney, Brooke K.; Rodewald, Paul G.; Schulenberg, Thomas S. (eds.), "Blue Vanga (Cyanolanius madagascarinus)", Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, doi:10.2173/bow.bluvan1.01, retrieved 2021-09-20
International), BirdLife International (BirdLife (2016-10-01). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Cyanolanius madagascarinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
