Birds Guide

Ramphocelus
Adult Crimson-collared Tanager
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves   Order: Passeriformes   Family: Thraupidae   Genus: Ramphocelus Desmarest, 1805
species
see species list

Ramphocelus is a genus of birds of the tanager family. Most species have enlarged shiny whitish lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in display.

Ramphocelus tanagers are found in semi-open areas. The nest is a cup built by the female of plant materials such as moss, rootlets, and strips of large leaves like banana or Heliconia, and is often in a fairly open site in a tree. The female usually lays pale blue eggs, with grey, brown or lavender spots, and the young stay in the nest for only about 12 days.

The songs of this genus are repetitions of rich one- or two-syllable whistles

Ramphocelus tanagers hunt at forest edges or in second growth, taking insects in flight or picking them from leaves

Taxonomy

The Crimson-collared Tanager is sometimes placed in a genus of its own as Phlogothraupis sanguinolenta (Howell and Webb 1994), and a genetic study suggests that it is less closely related to the other Ramphocelus tanagers than they are to each other (Hackett 1996). Its closest relative is Masked Crimson Tanager.

The other species form two superspecies. One includes Crimson-backed, Huallaga, Silver-beaked and Brazilian Tanagers, and the other comprises Passerini's, Cherrie's and Flame-rumped Tanagers.

The northern form of Flame-rumped Tanager is sometimes split as Lemon-rumped Tanager, Ramphocelus icteronotus, and Passerini's and Cherrie's Tanager were formerly lumped as Scarlet-rumped Tanager, Ramphocelus passerinii.

Species in taxonomic order

• Crimson-collared Tanager, Ramphocelus sanguinolentus
  Masked Crimson Tanager, Ramphocelus nigrogularis
  Crimson-backed Tanager, Ramphocelus dimidiatus
  Huallaga Tanager, Ramphocelus melanogaster
  Silver-beaked Tanager, Ramphocelus carbo
  Brazilian Tanager, Ramphocelus bresilius
  Passerini's Tanager, Ramphocelus passerinii
  Cherrie's Tanager, Ramphocelus costaricensis
  Flame-rumped Tanager, Ramphocelus flammigerus

References

• ffrench, Birds of Trinidad and Tobago ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
• Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• Morton, Isler & Isler, Tanagers ISBN 0-7136-5116-4
• Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-0814-9600-4
• Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb (1994). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-1985-4012-4.
• S. J. Hackett (1996). "Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of tanagers in the genus Ramphocelus (Aves)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 5 (2): 368–382.