The cotingas are a large family, Cotingidae, of suboscine passerine birds found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, that are primarily frugivorous. They all have broad bills with hooked tips, rounded wings, and strong legs. They range in size from of the fiery-throated fruiteater (Pipreola chlorolepidota) up to of the Amazonian umbrellabird (Cephalopterus ornatus).
Description Cotingas vary widely in social structure. There is a roughly 50/50 divide in the family between species with biparental care, and those in which the males play no part in raising the young. Supplementary Material. The purple-throated fruitcrow lives in mixed-sex groups in which one female lays an egg and the others help provide insects to the chick.
In cotinga species where only the females care for the eggs and young, the males have striking courtship displays, often grouped together in leks. Such sexual selection results in the males of these species, including the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, being brightly coloured, or decorated with plumes or wattles, like the umbrellabirds, with their umbrella-like crest and long throat wattles. Other lekking cotingids like the bellbirds and screaming piha, have distinctive and far-carrying calls. In such canopy-dwelling genera as Carpodectes, Cotinga, and Xipholena, males gather high in a single tree or in adjacent trees, but male cocks-of-the-rock, as befits their more terrestrial lives, give their elaborate displays in leks on the ground.
The females of both lekking and biparental species are duller than the males.
Breeding Nests range from tiny to very large. Many species lay a single egg in a nest so flimsy that the egg can be seen from underneath. This may make the nests hard for predators to find. Fruiteaters build more solid cup nests, and the cocks-of-the-rock attach their mud nests to cliffs. The nests may be open cups or little platforms with loosely woven plant material, usually placed in a tree. The clutches comprise one to four eggs. Incubation typically takes 15–28 days. Fledging usually occurs at 28–33 days.
Habitat Deserts, open woodlands, coastal mangroves, and humid tropical forests comprise their habitats. Cotingas face very serious threats from the loss of their habitats.
Taxonomy and systematics The family Cotingidae was introduced by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1849. According to the International Ornithological Committee, as of July 2021, the family contains 66 species divided into 24 genera.
A 2014 molecular phylogenetic study of the cotingas by Jacob Berv and Richard Prum found that the genera formed five monophyletic clades and they proposed that the family could be divided into five subfamilies. The following cladogram is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the suboscines by Michael Harvey and collaborators published in 2020. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
The genus Tijuca was found to be embedded in Lipaugus, a position that was confirmed by a more detailed 2020 study.
Image Genus Living species Ampelioides Scaled fruiteater, Ampelioides tschudii Pipreola Fiery-throated fruiteater, Pipreola chlorolepidota Scarlet-breasted fruiteater, Pipreola frontalis Handsome fruiteater, Pipreola formosa Red-banded fruiteater, Pipreola whitelyi Black-chested fruiteater, Pipreola lubomirskii Orange-breasted fruiteater, Pipreola jucunda Masked fruiteater, Pipreola pulchra Golden-breasted fruiteater, Pipreola aureopectus Barred fruiteater, Pipreola arcuata Band-tailed fruiteater, Pipreola intermedia Green-and-black fruiteater, Pipreola riefferii Snowornis Grey-tailed piha, Snowornis subalaris Olivaceous piha, Snowornis cryptolophus Carpornis Hooded berryeater, Carpornis cucullata Black-headed berryeater, Carpornis melanocephala Rupicola Andean cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruvianus Guianan cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola rupicola Phoenicircus Guianan red cotinga, Phoenicircus carnifex Black-necked red cotinga, Phoenicircus nigricollis Zaratornis White-cheeked cotinga, Zaratornis stresemanni Phytotoma Rufous-tailed plantcutter or Chilean plantcutter, Phytotoma rara Peruvian plantcutter, Phytotoma raimondii White-tipped plantcutter or reddish plantcutter, Phytotoma rutila Phibalura Swallow-tailed cotinga, Phibalura flavirostris Doliornis Bay-vented cotinga, Doliornis sclateri Chestnut-bellied cotinga, Doliornis remseni Ampelion Red-crested cotinga, Ampelion rubrocristatus Chestnut-crested cotinga, Ampelion rufaxilla Haematoderus Crimson fruitcrow, Haematoderus militaris Querula Purple-throated fruitcrow, Querula purpurata Pyroderus Red-ruffed fruitcrow, Pyroderus scutatus Cephalopterus Bare-necked umbrellabird, Cephalopterus glabricollis Long-wattled umbrellabird, Cephalopterus penduliger Amazonian umbrellabird, Cephalopterus ornatus Perissocephalus Capuchinbird, Perissocephalus tricolor Lipaugus Rufous piha, Lipaugus unirufus Cinnamon-vented piha, Lipaugus lanioides Rose-collared piha, Lipaugus streptophorus Screaming piha, Lipaugus vociferans Dusky piha, Lipaugus fuscocinereus Scimitar-winged piha, Lipaugus uropygialis Chestnut-capped piha, Lipaugus weberi Black-and-gold cotinga, Lipaugus ater Grey-winged cotinga, Lipaugus conditus Procnias White bellbird, Procnias albus Three-wattled bellbird, Procnias tricarunculatus Bare-throated bellbird, Procnias nudicollis Bearded bellbird, Procnias averano Cotinga Plum-throated cotinga, Cotinga maynana Spangled cotinga, Cotinga cayana Lovely cotinga, Cotinga amabilis Blue cotinga, Cotinga nattererii Turquoise cotinga, Cotinga ridgwayi Banded cotinga, Cotinga maculata Purple-breasted cotinga, Cotinga cotinga Porphyrolaema Purple-throated cotinga, Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema Conioptilon Black-faced cotinga, Conioptilon mcilhennyi Gymnoderus Bare-necked fruitcrow, Gymnoderus foetidus Xipholena Pompadour cotinga, Xipholena punicea White-tailed cotinga, Xipholena lamellipennis White-winged cotinga, Xipholena atropurpurea Carpodectes Black-tipped cotinga, Carpodectes hopkei Yellow-billed cotinga, Carpodectes antoniae Snowy cotinga, Carpodectes nitidus
A number of species previously placed in this family are now placed in the family Tityridae (genera Laniisoma, Laniocera and Iodopleura)Remsen, J. V. Jr., C. D. Cadena, A. Jaramillo, M. Nores, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, T. S. Schulenberg, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, & K. J. Zimmer. 2007. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithologists' Union. Accessed 12 December 2007.
References
Further reading Snow, D.W. (1976). "The relationship between climate and annual cycles in the Cotingidae." Ibis 118(3):366-401 Snow, D.W. (1982). The Cotingas: Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies. British Museum Press.
External links
Cotinga videos on the Internet Bird Collection