Wattled Ploughbill
Encyclopedia
The Wattled Ploughbill, Eulacestoma nigropectus is a small, approximately 14 cm long, olive-brown songbird
with a strong, thick, wedge-shaped black bill
, used to plough into dead tree branches, bark and twigs in search for its insects diet. The sexes are different. The male has black underparts, black wings and a large circular pink wattle on the cheek. The female has olive green plumage and pale olive below. Only the adult male has wattles.
The only member of the monotypic genus Eulacestoma, the Wattled Ploughbill is distributed and endemic
to central mountain ranges of New Guinea
. The diet consists mainly of insects.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Wattled Ploughbill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species.
Recent work with nuclear gene sequencing suggests that the Shrike-tits
and Wattled Ploughbill may require their own family, Falcunculidae.
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
with a strong, thick, wedge-shaped black bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, used to plough into dead tree branches, bark and twigs in search for its insects diet. The sexes are different. The male has black underparts, black wings and a large circular pink wattle on the cheek. The female has olive green plumage and pale olive below. Only the adult male has wattles.
The only member of the monotypic genus Eulacestoma, the Wattled Ploughbill is distributed and endemic
Endemism in birds
An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....
to central mountain ranges of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The diet consists mainly of insects.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Wattled Ploughbill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species.
Recent work with nuclear gene sequencing suggests that the Shrike-tits
Crested Shrike-tit
The Crested Shrike-tit is a bird endemic to Australia where it inhabits open eucalypt forest and woodland.-Taxonomy and distribution:...
and Wattled Ploughbill may require their own family, Falcunculidae.