Cotingidae Cotingas
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Introduction
No family of birds exhibits more diversity of auditory, behavioral, and plumage elaborations, all the result of rampant sexual selection, than do the cotingas. The species in this family vary in size, some as small as sparrows, others larger than crows. Some species are bizarrely colorful, others highly cryptic, with calls as divergent as the clarion calls of bellbirds and the calf-like mewing of the Capuchinbird. Males of many cotinga species group together in leks to display for females during the breeding season. In at least one species the lekking birds create their own forested habitat by regurgitating seeds that then germinate and grow up around them over the years of their traditional lek-site usage.
Habitat
Most cotingas live in densely vegetated forest and woodland habitats, ranging from lowland tropical rainforest to montane cloud forest. A few species, especially in temperate South America, extend into open scrubland and woodlands.
Diet and Foraging
Most cotingas feed exclusively or almost exclusively on fruits. A small proportion of the diet, especially of the larger species, includes invertebrates, mainly insects, and small frogs and lizards. The Phytotoma plantcutters feed primarily on leaves, and to a lesser degree on flowers and fruit. They appear to select leaves that are relatively high in protein.
Breeding
The breeding biology of most cotingids is extremely poorly known. Many species are polygynous with female-only care and lek breeding, though some are monogamous with biparental care. The nests of those that have been studied are variable. Many Pipreola, Xipholena, and Carpodectes species build a small cup platform of rootlets, lichens, and other plant material. Nests of the umbrellabirds (Cephalopterus) are usually large platforms constructed primarily of sticks. The cocks-of-the-rock (Rupicola) build a nest of mud and plant material that is fixed to a vertical rock face, sometimes in a shallow cave or other rock crevice. Females typically lay 1 or 2 eggs. In polygynous species, only the female provides any care to the chicks, constructing the nest and incubating the eggs alone. In monogamous species, such as the fruit-eaters, both male and female construct the nest; only the female incubates the eggs, although both male and female actively feed the chicks. Embryonic development rates appear very slow, and incubation takes 17 to 28 days. The chicks leave the nest after 28 to 48 days in the nest. The one exception to these slow rates of development appears to be the Phytotoma plantcutters, which have incubation periods of about 14 days and nestling periods of only about 17 days.
Conservation Status
More than one-third of cotingid species (35%) are threatened by habitat conversion, which exacerbates the problems of small ranges and small global population sizes (6 NT, 11 VU, 5 EN). The endangered cotingid species occur in disjunct places in Central and South America, and they include species in five disparate genera (Phytotoma, Cotinga, Xipholena, Lipaugus, and Carpodectes).
Systematics History
The cotingas are part of the parvorder Tyrannida in the New World suboscine radiation. Relationships within and among the cotingids and their allies have long bedeviled avian taxonomists, but recent molecular analyses have begun to resolve these relationships. Chesser (2004) found the cotingas to be in a polytomy with two clades: one consisting of tityras and manakins, and the other the Tyrannidae and allies. Ericson et al. (2006b), in an overview of the Tyrannida, found Cotingidae to be sister to Pipridae, and Ohlson et al. (2007), with rather sparse sampling outside Cotingidae, found them in a polytomy with Pipridae, Tityridae, and Tyrannidae. Tello et al. (2009), with extensive sampling both within and outside the family, found Cotingidae sister to Tityridae, and Ohlson et al. (2013a), with similar sampling, found Cotingidae sister to a clade made up of Tityridae plus Tyrannidae. Clearly, consensus has not yet been achieved, but the three closest families are pretty clear. Relationships within Cotingidae were investigated extensively by Ohlson et al. (2007), but cotingids are also well represented in more-recent larger-scale analyses (see also Ohlson et al. 2013a, Tello et al. 2009), and Berv and Prum (2014) completed the most intensive and complete analysis yet. All these within-family analyses are consistent with the view that there are three to five natural groups within Cotingidae, and in our presentation of genera here, we follow the most recent five-group delineation (Berv & Prum 2014). It is important to note that the Phytotoma plantcut-ters, with their distinctive bills, have often been placed in their own family, but the phylogenetic evidence clearly shows that they belong in Cotingidae (Ohlson et al. 2007, Tello et al. 2009, Ohlson et al. 2013a, Berv & Prum 2014).
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
70.8%
|
---|---|
Near Threatened |
10.8%
|
Vulnerable |
10.8%
|
Endangered |
1.5%
|
Critically Endangered |
3.1%
|
Extinct in the Wild |
0%
|
Extinct |
0%
|
Not Evaluated |
0%
|
Data Deficient |
0%
|
Unknown |
3.1%
|
Data provided by IUCN (2023) Red List. More information