Violet wood hoopoe explained

The violet wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus damarensis) is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. It is found in Angola, Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania. It looks similar to the black-billed wood hoopoe but with a red beak and a green throat. It has coppery and violet mantle feathers.[1]

Taxonomy

Grant's wood hoopoe (P. d. granti) is sometimes considered a full species. Due to genetic similarities in mitochondrial DNA analysis between the violet woodhoopoe and the green woodhoopoe, some believe the violet woodhoopoe is not a separate species from the green woodhoopoe.[2] However, some scholars suggest the violet woodhoopoe is indeed its own species, based on different foraging patterns attributed to its more terrestrial foraging juxtaposed to the green woodhoopoe's arboreal foraging.[3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Cooper . Mark . Sewell . Brian . Jaffer . Mohamed . 2019-03-20 . Iridescence of Violet Woodhoopoe Mantle Feathers . Biodiversity Observations . 10 . 10.15641/bo.v10i0.504 . 2219-0341. free .
  2. Cooper . Mark I. . Cunningham . Michael . Cherry . Michael I. . Taxonomic status of the Namibian Violet Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus damarensis as determined by mitochondrial DNA. Ibis . July 2001 . 143 . 3 . 572–579 . 10.1111/j.1474-919X.2001.tb04884.x.
  3. du Plessis . Morné A . Simmons . Robert E . Radford . Andrew N . Behavioural ecology of the Namibian Violet Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus damarensis . Ostrich . March 2007 . 78 . 1 . 1–5 . 10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.78.1.1.45.