Gray-winged Cotinga Lipaugus conditus Scientific name definitions

One of the most recently described cotingas, it was not until the 1970s that David Snow realized that a unique specimen long thought to be a female Black-and-gold Cotinga (Tijuca atra) represented a different and previously undescribed species. Within just a couple of years, Gray-winged Cotinga had been found in the field, but despite its highly restricted range in close proximity to Rio de Janeiro, this unassuming cotinga was until very recently highly under-studied by ornithologists. Feather protein analysis, which was also used to differentiate the new species, suggested a close relationship to Screaming Piha (Lipaugus vociferans), and one of the many recent genetic studies of Cotingidae and related families uncovered evidence for a close relationship between Lipaugus and Tijuca.

24 cm. Male has dull greyish face  and upper throat; olive-green above  , yellower on rump, darker and browner wings and tail, outer webs  of remiges silvery grey  ; olive-yellow below  , yellower belly and underwing-coverts; iris brown; upper mandible dark grey, lower mandible yellow-olive; legs dark horn. Distinguished from similar L. ater female mainly by smaller size, brighter plumage coloration, silvery colour on flight-feathers. Female is smaller than male, plumage duller; very like female L. ater  but much smaller, with smaller, more delicate bill, markedly more delicate legs and feet, also stronger suffusion of yellow in body plumage, especially on rump, and greyer wings. Juvenile undescribed.

Rio de Janeiro (Serra dos Órgãos, Serra do Tinguá, Serra das Araras and Nova Caledônia) (2 Alves, M. A. S., S. L. Pimm, A. Storni, M. A. Raposo, M. de L. Brooke, G. Harris, A. Foster, and C. N. Jenkins (2008). Mapping and exploring the distribution of the vulnerable Grey-winged Cotinga Tijuca condita. Oryx 42(4):562–566. Close ), SE Brazil.

Very humid elfin cloudforest with many bromeliads  ; mainly 1560–2105 m, occasionally descending to 1340 m (3 Kirwan, G. M., and G. Green (2011). Cotingas and Manakins. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Male call a loud disyllabic whistle  , emphasis on second syllable, “sooee-wheee”, c. 1·25 seconds long; at distance only second syllable audible.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Atlantic Forest Mountains EBA. Original and only specimen, a female collected in 1942, originally identified as L. ater; not recognized as separate species until almost 40 years later. Known to occur in only two mountain ranges in central Rio de Janeiro state: Serra dos Órgãos and Serra do Tinguá. Few observations, and seems to exist in very low densities; population presumed to be 1000–2500 individuals BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Tijuca condita. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/09/2015. . Until recently almost all records from Serra dos Órgãos National Park, but recorded also in Tinguá Biological Reserve. Two more sites were found in 2002–2005: Araras Biological Reserve, near Serra do Tinguá and Nova Caledônia in Serra dos Órgãos (4 Alves, M.A.S., Pimm, S.L., Storni, A., Raposo, M.A., Brooke, M. de L., Harris, G., Foster, A. and Jenkins, C.N. (2008). Mapping and exploring the distribution of the Vulnerable grey-winged cotinga Tijuca condita. Oryx. 42(4): 562–566. Close ). These two additional localities have doubled the known range (4 Alves, M.A.S., Pimm, S.L., Storni, A., Raposo, M.A., Brooke, M. de L., Harris, G., Foster, A. and Jenkins, C.N. (2008). Mapping and exploring the distribution of the Vulnerable grey-winged cotinga Tijuca condita. Oryx. 42(4): 562–566. Close ). Nevertheless, range is tiny, with Extent of Occurrence covering just 3300 km² BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Tijuca condita. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/09/2015. , within which a maximum of 200 km² of forest habitat exists above 1400 m (4 Alves, M.A.S., Pimm, S.L., Storni, A., Raposo, M.A., Brooke, M. de L., Harris, G., Foster, A. and Jenkins, C.N. (2008). Mapping and exploring the distribution of the Vulnerable grey-winged cotinga Tijuca condita. Oryx. 42(4): 562–566. Close ); the discrepancy between standard Extent of Occurrence measurements (5 Joppa, L.N., Butchart, S.H.M., Hoffmann, M., Bachman, S.P., Akçakaya, H.R., Moat, J.F., Böhm, M., Holland, R.A., Newton, A., Polidoro, B. and Hughes, A. (2016). Impact of alternative metrics on estimates of extent of occurrence for extinction risk assessment. Conservation Biology. 30(2): 362–370. Close ) and habitat mapping as estimates of range size is particularly marked for this montane species, and use of the former may lead to an overly optimistic assessment of its conservation status (6 Harris, G. and Pimm, S.L. (2008). Range size and extinction risk in forest birds. Conservation Biology. 22(1): 163-171. Close ). High-altitude elfin-forest habitat not under any immediate threat, but disturbance caused by walkers, as well as fires, pose potential risks. Occurs in four protected areas: Tinguá Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 248 km²), Araras Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 21 km²), Serra dos Órgãos National Park (IUCN Cat. II; 200 km²) and Três Picos State Park (IUCN Cat. II; 580 km²) (3 Kirwan, G. M., and G. Green (2011). Cotingas and Manakins. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). However, Tinguá Biological Reserve may be threatened by poachers and palm harvesters, and in any case contains less than 1 km² of available habitat (3 Kirwan, G. M., and G. Green (2011). Cotingas and Manakins. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Any significant deterioration in or loss of habitat would require upgrading of species’ conservation status to that of Endangered. Considered Vulnerable at the national level in Brazil (7 Silveira, L. F., and F. C. Straube (2008). Aves. Pp. 378–679 in:. Close , 8 MMA (2014). Lista Nacional Oficial de Espécies da Fauna Ameaçadas de Extinção. Portaria No 444, de 17 de dezembro de 2014. Diário Oficial da União - Seção 1. Nº 245, quinta-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2014. Close ).