Wattled Curassow
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 At the National Aviary
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| Crax globulosa Spix, 1825 |
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Crax carunculata |
The Wattled Curassow (Crax globulosa) is a member of the Cracidae family. It is rarely found in the wild, and classified as vulnerable species due to unsustainable hunting and habitat destruction. It is 82-89 cm (c.32-35 inches) long, and weighs up to 2500 grams (del Hoyo 1994). Its range is in the western Amazonas basin, essentially delimited by the Caquetá-Japurá, Solimões, and Madeira Rivers, and the 300 meter contour line towards the Andes (del Hoyo 1994, Pereira & Baker 2004)
It is the most ancient lineage of the southern Crax curassows. Its origins date back some 6-5.5 mya ago (Messinian, Late Miocene) when its ancestors became isolated in western Amazonia. Although a close relationship to the Red-billed Curassow has been proposed, the Wattled Curassow seems to be a quite basal lineage without particularly close relatives. The similarity with the Red-billed Curassow seems to be mostly due to the fact that these are the most ancient species of their lineage, retaining more common plesiomorphies.(Pereira & Baker 2004)
From captivity, hybrids with the quite distinct Blue-billed Curassow are known (del Hoyo 1994).
[edit] Gallery
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[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2006). Crax globulosa. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 15 Oct 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable
- del Hoyo, Josep (1994): 48. Wattled Curassow. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors) Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl): 361-362, Plate 34. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6
- Pereira, Sérgio Luiz & Baker, Allan J. (2004): Vicariant speciation of curassows (Aves, Cracidae): a hypothesis based on mitochondrial DNA phylogeny. Auk 121(3): 682-694. [English with Spanish abstract] DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0682:VSOCAC]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract HTML fulltext without images
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