Rufous-bellied chachalaca
species of bird
The rufous-bellied chachalaca (Ortalis wagleri) is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is endemic to western Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The rufous-bellied chachalaca was at one time considered a subspecies of the West Mexican chachalaca (Ortalis poliocephala). It is monotypic, though the Sonoran population has been treated as a subspecies.
Description
The rufous-bellied chachalaca is 62 to 67 cm (2.0 to 2.2 ft) long and weighs about 834 g (1.8 lb). Most of its plumage is gray brown to olive brown, but its chestnut belly and tail tips make it the most richly colored member of its genus. It has bare pink and blue skin around the eye.
Distribution and habitat
The rufous-bellied chachalaca is found in western Mexico from southern Sonora south to northwestern Jalisco. It inhabits tropical deciduous, semi-deciduous, and thorn forest and, along the coast, mangroves. In elevation it usually ranges from sea level to 1,300 m (4,300 ft) but has been found as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rufous-bellied chachalaca” as species of bird. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of bird. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 23, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q1267347. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rufous-bellied chachalaca” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.