Отправлено: 25.03.22 17:24. Заголовок: Galliformes and other animals for South America (продолжение)
Hello! I'm back with ideas for some new species for South America. I found in my computer an archive with some ideas for fauna and flora that I had some time ago and decided to show there to ask your opinion about them. The first is about a descendant of the domestic chicken.
Copper jacumitan (Jacumita cuprinus) During the Holocene, the man introduced many species in other continents. The jacumitan is a descendant of domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) that are introduced in South America. It replaced the birds in the family Cracidae, which are extinct in the Neocene, in some areas. In a matter of fact, the name jacumitan is the junction of the words jacu, the popular name in Brazil for guans of the Genus Penelope, and the tupi word mitã (mitan) that means new, this way the name means “new guan”. The copper jacumitan is the type species of this genus and lives in the savannas and woodlands of Central South America. The copper jacumitan is sexually dysmorphic. The male measure 190 cm, due to the long tail, it has a bright coppery brown upperbody plumage and reddish-brown feathers below. They also have metallic dark green feathers on the tail and wings. Only males have a bright red naked skin on the face, with two wattles that conceal the sides of its head. This characteristic is shared by all males of the genus Jacumita. The males of the genus also have crests formed by white feathers with black tips. During courtship and panic moments, they rise the crests. The females have 75 cm of length and are cryptic brown and adapted to camouflage, its naked skin on the face is pale pink and don’t have flesh wattles. The young males are similar to the females until they reach 9 weeks, at this time the wattle begin to develop. Both sexes have long orange colored legs and grey beak. The males have spurs that they use in fights for dominance. The neck is long and slim. Copper jacumitans can fly, but prefer to run from the predators flying only as last resort. These birds are omnivorous and feed on insects, seeds, and fruits. Its forage for food by scratching the ground, usually near herbivores this way there is other animals observing for the presence of predators. Often the male sits on a high perch, to serve as a lookout for his group. He sounds an alarm call if predators are nearby. At night it will sleep perched on branches. Copper jacumitans are polygamous; the male will have a harem with 5 to 12 females and will guards the area where his females are nesting, and attack other males that enter his territory. To initiate courting, the males will dance in a circle around or near a female, raising their crests and lowering the wing which is closest to the hen. Then, he will vocalize and when she responds to his call, the male will mount her and proceed with the mating. The females make their nest in the ground, laying 6 to 14 red eggs which are incubated for 22 days. Chicks are precocious, leaving the nest shortly they are born. They fledge in about 4 to 5 weeks, and at 13 weeks old are chased out of the group by their mother, at which point the young males start to form a harem and the females join an existing one. Sexual maturity is reached at 6 months and the lifespan of this species is of 13 years, however is common for males to die early due to predation. Other species in the genus Jacumita are:
Golden jacumitan (Jacumita aurea) Living in the forests of the Atlantic coast of South America, the males of this species has 200 cm of length, from beak to tail, while the females have 83 cm. The plumage of the male have a bright golden-yellow plumage in the upperparts, being scarlet in the chest and belly. They have dark metallic green wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown. Red jacumitan (Jacumita amazonica) Living in the "terra firme" forests of the Amazon , the males of this species has 185 cm of length, from beak to tail, while females have 70 cm. The plumage of male is bright orange-red in the upperparts, while their chest and belly is yellow. The males also have dark metallic blue wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown. Andean jacumitan (Jacumita andina) Living in the highland forests in the slopes of the Andes, the males of this species has 170 cm of length, from beak to tail, while females have 68 cm. The plumage of the males is white in the upperparts and yellowish-red in the belly and chest. The males also have dark metallic blue wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown.
This other one is about a descendant of the californian quail: Common austral grouse (Tetraoinus australis) During the Holocene, the man introduced many exotic species different habitats, the ancestor of the austral grouse was one of these species. Their ancestor was not a true grouse, but the Californian quail, due to evolutionary convergence they acquired characteristics similar to the true grouses of North America. Living in the forests of Southern South America, the male austral grouse are 55 cm long and the female have 44 cm of length. The male have a dark grey body plumage, black-and-white bridled head pattern, black back and a greyish-blue belly. They have a curving crest or plume, made of six feathers that droops forward (long and black in males /short and brown in females) and long forked blackish tail with white undertail coverts. Females and immature birds are mainly greyish-brown with a light-brown belly. Both sexes have a black bill and relatively long grey legs. Their diet consists mainly of seeds and leaves, but they also eat some berries and insects. In some regions their main source of food are the seeds of trees of the Genus Araucaria. These birds are not elegant fliers, however they sleep perched in branches. Given a choice, they will normally escape on foot. During the courtship, the male austral grouse do displays on a lek, each male have a “personal space”. The males strut around their chose space, doing a display. The display consists of the male posturing himself with the head near the ground. Then, they start to move it from right to left showing their crests, simultaneously they raising the tail feathers, showing their withe undertail coverts. After that, they will raise their heads abruptly and whilst make a highly distinctive mating call. When another male invade the personal space of other, a fight happens, in this case the male will try to take of the crest of the rival, this way they will not be capable to display for the females. The female usually lays approximately 12 spotted eggs. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with vegetation on the ground. Incubation lasts from 21–25 days, usually performed by the female and rarely by the male. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest with their parents within hours of hatching. The male stay with the female until the young leave, with 3 months. The young reach sexual maturity with 1 year, with this age the young males acquire the coloration of an adult male. Their lifespan is of 27 years. In the forests of Tierra del Fuego another species lives, the Black boreal grouse (Tetraoinus nigrus). Their main difference to the other species is that the males have an all-black plumage, with only a faint shade of blue in the chest and brown undertail coverts. The females are similar to that of the common austral grouse. The males have 52 cm and the females 41 cm.
I also have in this archive some names for possible species that I never developed bayond some few facts. Maybe someone could help me make their descriptions.
Отправлено: 01.05.23 04:40. Заголовок: I finished the descr..
I finished the description of the Tukutuku and of the jacana. wovoka, I made the owl as part of the genus that I proposed sometime ago, but used your suggestions of it also hunting other things rather than only fish. What do you think that I could add in its description to make this species even more singular if compared to the others of the genus?
Tukutuku, or screaming nhakurutukutu (Piscatostrix vocifer) Order:Strigiformes Family:Strigidae Habitat: Northern South America, forests and woodlands. The human actions in the Holocene caused many impacts in the ecosystems. Because of these actions, many species went extinct in the Neocene. However some species survived and gave rise to descendants that exploited many new niches. One of them is the genus Piscatostrix, birds that are descendants of the crested owl (Lophostrix cristata). Birds of this genus, known as the nhakurutukutus, are capable of catching fish and inhabit much of the forested areas of South America. Among the representatives of this genus is the Tukutuku, an inhabitant of the Northern forests of the continent. In the Carib language, Tukutuku means owl. These birds have 40 cm of length and a wingspan of 79 cm. The females are slightly larger than the males. Their plumage is buff brown with darker tawny brown feathers on the back. The underparts are pale gray, with dark brown barring. The facial disk is light brown and their ear tuffs are white and long. The beak and legs are dark gray. The Tukutuku eats more mammals and reptiles than other members of the genus Piscatostrix. Such non dependence on aquatic animals, allow the owl to live in areas that are away from the water and to survive in long dry periods. However, much of their diet still consists of fishes. Other aquatic animals such as frogs, freshwater crustaceans and large insects are also eaten. This species nest during the dry season, which has the benefit of lower, clearer water and thus more easily detectable fish. They are monogamous and territorial, claiming a stretch of river or lakeshore for themselves. Territories are claimed by a loud scream-like hooting at the start of the breeding season. They are far more vocal than the other members of the genus, with the male and female constantly vocalizing to each other while they are foraging separated. The nest is a natural hollow or cavity in an old shady tree close to the water, quite often around where thick branches emerge from the trunk. The clutch size is typically one or two white eggs. The female lays the eggs when water's at its peak or starting to fall, so that brood feeding coincides with low water and concentrated prey. The female does all incubation for around 32 days, while the male feeds her. If there is more than one egg, hatching occurs at 5 day intervals. The second chick often disappears, probably due to starvation and fratricide. The young fledge within 53 days and remain in their parent's territory for 6 to 9 months after fledging and resemble the adult by around 10 months of age. At the first sight of danger to their offspring, both parents may engage in distraction displays. In these displays, the parents become slim and erect their ear tufts high, the wings are stretched and they produce a sound similar to a scream. This species reaches sexual maturity within 4 years and their lifespan is 28 years.
Amapejàu, or shielded jacana (Jacana scutocardia)
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Jacanidae
Habitat:Wetlands of Tropical South America.
While the transition between the Neocene and the Holocene caused the extinction of many species, others remained alive and continued to evolve. Some animals changed completely to fill new niches, but others continued with the same of their ancestors. The Amapejàu is one of these cases. This bird is a descendant of the wattled jacana (Jacana jacana) and had inherited the lifestyle of its ancestor. It inhabits the wetlands of Tropical South America. In Carib language the word Amapejáu was used to name its ancestor.
The Amapejàu have 19 to 25 cm of body length and a wingspan ranging between 40 and 45 cm. This species has a great degree of sexual dimorphism, with females being larger than the males. The females also have a bright red head shield that grows to have a heart-like shape. In males, this head shield is pale red and very short. The plumage of both are similar, with a dark brown back and wing coverts, with the rest of the body being white. In flight the bright yellow flight feathers are obvious. Also visible are red bony spurs on the leading edge of the wings, which it can use to defend itself and its young. These structures are larger and sharper in the females. The yellow bill extends up at the head-shield, and the legs and very long toes are black.
The diet of this species is very similar to that of their ancestors. The Amapejàu feeds on insects, mollusks, small fishes and frogs. They hunt their prey by moving through the floating vegetation of their habitats, usually in waterlilies.
Female Amapejàus are polyandrous, forming harems of at least five males in their territory. Different from what happens in other birds, it’s the females that pursue and fight over males. Upon finding a male, the female will stand in front of him while her wings are open. Then, she’ll bow until he can have a good sight of her heart-shaped head shield. If he approves, the male will mimic her movements.
Females are aggressive against each other, flying directly at them while vocalizing loudly. After landing, to intimidate the invader, they keep their wings open and stretched upwards, showing the long, yellow feathers on the wings. In this posture, the spur appears at the wings. Through these attitudes, they intimidate the invading bird. Occasionally, fights will occur.
The male is solely responsible for incubating the eggs and chick-rearing activities. The females stay most of the time patrolling their territory against trespassers. It wasn’t uncommon for a rival female to subdue a male and remove him from a nest before proceeding to destroy the eggs. The male will proceed to mate with her. Thus the owner of the territory needs to be very protective. Four eggs are laid in nests formed by stems of aquatic, floating plants. The male will incubate them for 28 days. Newly hatched chicks walk over vegetation the first day after hatching and soon lose the white down on their belly and brown on their back. Sexual maturity is reached 6 months and they have a lifespan of 9 years.
Отправлено: 03.05.23 17:34. Заголовок: I finished the descr..
I finished the descriptions of the cyculi, poporo and apeina.
Cyculi, or sungrebe-gardener (Heliornis kepofilus) Order:Gruiformes Family:Heliornithidae Habitat: Northern South America, wetlands and flooded forests with slow moving rivers where Mureru water lilies can grow. The human actions in the Holocene caused many impacts in the ecosystems. Because of these actions, many species went extinct in the Neocene. However some species survived and gave rise to descendants. While some diverged from the niches once filled by their ancestors, others remained very similar to their predecessors. One of these cases is the Cyculi, a descendent of the sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) that inhabits wetlands and flooded forests of Northern South America. In the Guahibo language, Cyculi means sungrebe. The Cyculi have between 30 to 37 cm of length and a wingspan of 50 to 55 cm. The females are larger than the males. Like their ancestors, these birds have lobed toes. The bare skin of their feet and legs are boldly banded in red and black. The body plumage is mostly reddish brown, while having a striking black and white head and neck pattern, as well as a black strip coming down from the throat to the chin. The long tail extends well beyond the body in flight, and sits fanned out on or just below the surface of the water while the bird swims. Females have a pale brown patch on the cheeks that brightens to reddish-brown during the breeding season. They have pale red beaks that become bright in the females during the mating season. Like their ancestors, the male Cyculi have a pouch that is a shallow, ovular pocket formed by pleats of well-muscled skin that extend along the side of the chest under the wings, further buffered by a wall of long, curved feathers growing upwards and backwards from the lower part of the side of the chest. These feathers hold chicks in place during movement, even allowing a male to carry them while diving and flying. The bird have some muscular control over the shape of the pleats, and can restrict or enhance fluid flow into the tissue to make them more or less rigid. Each pouch can hold one or two chicks. While this species is omnivorous, they have a preference for seeds, mainly those of the Mureru water lilies, being the main responsible for dispersing its seeds. These seeds are covered by a sweet shell that is digested in the stomach of the Cyculi, and the seeds themselves will ripen under the influence of enzymes in its stomach. Without the sungrebe, the water lily will not be able to spread. The bird, depending on these seeds, will protect the plant from overgrowth by other aquatic plants and algae, eating them so that they do not clog the Mureru. They will also hunt snails and a variety of aquatic arthropods, as well as small fishes that try to eat the water lily. The sungrebe has a mating season that begins in the early wet season. The females court the males, while the males are the main caretakers of the chicks. Both the male and female birds take part in the nest building, which typically consists of twigs, reeds, and dried leaves. The nest is a flimsy platform placed about a meter above the water's surface, close to agglomerations of Mureru water lilies. There are usually two to four eggs in a clutch. They are round in shape with a buffy white to pale cinnamon base color, with irregularly-shaped dark cinnamon, ruddy brown, and pale purple spots scattered uniformly over the surface. The eggs hatch after an unusually short incubation period of only 10 to 11 days. Both sexes share responsibility in the incubation of the eggs; the female sits on the nest for most of the daylight hours and throughout the night, while male incubates them during the middle part of the day. The chicks are altricial upon hatching, blind and defenseless with only sparse down and poorly mature feet and bill. They are covered with fuzzy down that is countershaded slate-gray with a white belly and throat. The bill is slate-gray with a pale yellow tip. Males transfer the young to their pouches soon after hatching and keep them there, feeding them and cleaning out their waste, until they are able to swim and feed independently. For some period of time after this, the chicks continue to follow their parents, often riding on their back. The chicks leave their parents after three months and the partnership between the male and female ends during this period. Sexual maturity is reached within 8 months and they have a lifespan of 10 years.
Poporu, or Catatumbo Surinam toad (Pipa poporu) Order:Anura Family:Pipidae Habitat: Endemic to the Catatumbo River in Northern South America The human actions in the Holocene caused many impacts in the ecosystems. Because of these actions, many species went extinct in the Neocene. However some species survived and gave rise to descendants. One of these survivors was the Sabana Surinam toad (Pipa parva), which gave rise to the Poporu. An endemic species of the Catatumbo River, this amphibian has a close relationship with the Mureru water lily, not only using the leaves of this plant to lay their eggs, but also inhabiting around its leaves. In the Carib Language, Poporu means frog. The Poporu is a strictly aquatic frog with a depressed body, almost entirely flat and with a broad, flat, triangular head. The feet are broadly webbed with the front toes having small, star-like appendages. Males can grow up to 140 mm long, whereas females can reach up to 170 mm. Females can be distinguished not only by their length but also by their ring-shaped cloacas, visible when they are ready to breed. The skin color is mostly dark brown with some yellowish spots on the back, which is similar to the color of a decaying Mureru’s leaf. It provides good camouflage, both against predators and to hunt prey. Nostrils are terminal, eyes very small, and the tympanum is missing. The limbs are in a laterally sprawled position in the plane of the body, and the fingertips are modified into four small lobes. Like all Pipidae, they lack tongues. Its absence prevents the species from capturing prey with that organ like most other frogs, and instead suction capture is used. The species is an omnivorous ambush hunter. Its diet consists mostly of invertebrates, such as worms, insects, crustaceans and small fish. It hiddens among the leaves of Mureru, before jumping over the prey and swallowing them through a bidirectional suction mechanism where the amount of water ingested is influenced by the ability for the frog to actively increase its body volume. When it captures prey, its buccopharyngeal cavity (the cavity connecting the mouth and the pharynx) is very distensible and can expand substantially. It has the ability to use its entire trunk to rapidly enlarge its buccopharyngeal cavity and expand into the lower end of the trunk. The mating period of these frogs is during the fall and winter seasons. These frogs call usually during the morning and mid-afternoon hours. Males of this species do not attract females with croaks, instead producing a sharp clicking sound by snapping the hyoid bone in their throats. The clicking sound resembles metallic noises. The average rate of these clicks is four clicks per second, consisting of blocks of 10 to 20 seconds per period.Thereafter, the male will grab the front legs of the female in amplexus, causing the cloaca and the skin of the female to swell. The partners rise from the floor while in amplexus and flip through the water in arcs. The couple will swim around in the water until they have to swim to the surface to breathe. Afterwards, they will swim back down to the bottom of the water. There the male will lay on his back, with the female on top of him on her stomach. During the amplexus, the female's back is gradually swelled to a puffy condition. The male and female cloacae are brought close together, and many eggs are transferred anteriorly to the female's swollen dorsal epidermis. Differently from their ancestor, the females do not carry their eggs in the back. They’ll lay the eggs below the leaves of Mureru. Next they cover the eggs with a mucus produced from glands of their skin. Both parents remain watching this nest until the young come out. The embryos develop through to the tadpole stage inside these nests but do not emerge as tadpoles, instead remaining in their chambers until complete development to toadlet stage. After 12 to 20 weeks, the young toads will emerge as small toads, looking identical to their parents. It takes a while for them to grow bigger since they are only 25 mm long when they are born. Once they have emerged, the toads begin a largely solitary life. They have a lifespan of 5 years, but many are eaten by predator before reaching this age.
Red apeina, or Red spitter cichlid (Apeina rubropinnatus) Order:Cichliformes Family:Cichlidae Habitat: Catatumbo River in Northern South America, areas with dense aquatic vegetation. The human actions in the Holocene caused many impacts in the ecosystems. Because of these actions, many species went extinct in the Neocene. However some species survived and gave rise to descendants. One of these survivors was the blue acara (Andinoacara pulcher). In the Neocene, they gave rise to the genus Apeina, the spitter cichlids. Representatives of this genus inhabit several rivers of Northern South America. The red apeina is the type representative of the group and a species endemic to the Catatumbo River. In the Carib language, apeina means stream. In a case of convergent evolution, the Apeina fishes had evolved to become similar to the archerfishes (Toxotes). They have deep and laterally compressed bodies, with the profile a straight line from dorsal fin to mouth. They also have long, flowing fins with colors that vary according to the species, being this characteristic that allows to differentiate between the species. In the red apeina, the fins are a bright red color. The scales have a steel blue-green color. The male colors become bright during the breeding season. The mouth is protractile, and the lower jaw juts out. Sizes are fairly small, typically up to about 13–18 cm. All the Apeina fishes are carnivorous, feeding on small crustaceans, fry and insects while their larvae eat phytoplankton and zooplankton. Like the archerfishes, the red apeina is capable of turning water into a projectile from the sudden compression of water from the pharynx into the palatine canal and use their tongue to control the flow. This strategy is used to hunt insects that are out of their reach. When schools of these fishes are hunting together, some individuals will steal the prey of the others once it falls in the water. They reproduce during the rainy season. During this period they become very territorial, with mated pairs defending a small territory aggressively. The eggs are laid in a breeding chamber that has been dug in the bottom by the female. It’s usually built close to the rhizome of aquatic plants. The eggs are cared for by both parents that take turns to attend them inside the chamber. While one is inside, the other will remain outside defending the entrances. The eggs hatch after 5 weeks and both parents care for the young and defend them and the juveniles remain gregarious when independent of their parents. Sexual maturity is reached with 7 months and this species has a lifespan of 7 years, but predators will kill many of the young fishes. The yellow apeina, or yellow spitter cichlid (Apeina xanthopinnatus) is another representative of the genus. Besides being slightly larger than the red apeina, with a length ranging from 14 to 19 cm, and inhabiting slow flowing rivers of the central Amazon forest, the other characteristic that best differentiate this fish from their relative is the bright yellow color of its fins.
Оффтоп: как мне переводить слово cyculi? Сикули, кикули или цикули?
На сколько мне удалось выяснить, то правильно Кикули.
I was trying to find the name of this bird in Barí language (these indians are living on the banks of Catatumbo river), but unfortunately unsuccessful. Because Guahibo indians are living far south.
Отправлено: 22.05.23 20:00. Заголовок: I'll finish the ..
I'll finish the description of Kiwisukiri only next week. This week I'll be very busy. The next will be Maba. The most difficult to make descriptions of plants and mushroom.
About Parare, whom are you going to make the ancestor of this mantis: Stagmatoptera septentrionalis or Choeradodis rhombicollis? The last is now living too far from Catatumbo, but may be in neocene it will migrate closer.
I think Parare should look like "hybrid" of Hymenopus coronatus and Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii. Or something like that.
Ok! I'll finish the description of Maba next week and I'll try to describe next week Tuna sapipi. And then stay Ocumo, Mureru & Mureru tano - the most difficult. The description of Ocumo I have already started, but there are some difficulties that I need to deal with.
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