Saltator
Cardinals
Saltator is an American genus of songbird. They are traditionally placed in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae) but actually seem to be closer to tanagers (Thraupidae). The name saltators is the English name for the group for lack of a better term, and the English names of all except two species end in "Saltator".
Saltator is Latin for "leaper" or "dancer". Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot applied it to this genus because of the heavy way the birds hop on the ground.[1]
The saltators as traditionally defined are apparently neither monophyletic nor allied with the cardinals. As already noted over 100 years ago[2], they are a morphologically diverse group, encompassing generally robust and fairly drab nine-primaried oscines. The different species may appear more similar to grosbeaks, tanagers or even shrikes than to cardinals, and the pattern of their eggs is also conspicuously diverse[3]. Altogether, the "genus" seems more like an assemblage that is brought together more by the fact that these birds seemed even less close to other groups than among themselves, rather than by a very close relationship[4]. More extreme cases of adaptive radiation exist in birds, but this process hardly ever occurs outside island groups like Hawaiian honeycreepers, vangas, Malagasy warblers or the famous Galápagos finches.
The latest comprehensive analysis of the genus was a 1977 study[4] which today would not be accepted whole-cloth because it followed the phenetic methodology then en vogue but now considered outdated. Nonetheless, even here the case for Saltator monophyly was weak already. Where Saltator species have been included in cladistic studies[5] they appear to be related to various tanagers. If this is verified after a more thorough study they would probably be transferred to this family. Preliminary work[6] seems to support this, but for now they are best considered incertae sedis.
The following is a full list of Saltator species:
- Lesser Antillean Saltator Saltator albicollis : The Lesser Antillean Saltator is a songbird traditionally placed in the family Cardinalidae, but as it seems it is closer to the tanagers (Thraupidae). It is found in Dominica, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and heavily degraded former forest.
- Streaked Saltator Saltator striatipectus
- Greyish Saltator Saltator coerulescens
- Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus
- Black-headed Saltator Saltator atriceps
- Slate-colored Grosbeak Saltator grossus
- Black-throated Grosbeak Saltator fuliginosus The Black-throated Grosbeak was traditionally placed in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae), but it actually seems to be closer to the tanagers (Thraupidae). It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
- Black-winged Saltator Saltator atripennis : The Black-Winged Saltator is a cardinal found in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
- Green-winged Saltator Saltator similis
- Orinocan Saltator Saltator orenocensis : The Orinocan Saltator is a cardinal found in Venezuela in areas west, north, and upon the Orinoco River region and to the Caribbean coast; also border regions in adjacent northeast Colombia. It can also be found on the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
- Black-cowled Saltator Saltator nigriceps The Black-Cowled Saltator (Saltator nigriceps) is a cardinal found in the southern border region of Ecuador and the northern border region of Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
- Golden-billed Saltator Saltator aurantiirostris
- Thick-billed Saltator Saltator maxillosus : The Thick-Billed Saltator is a cardinal found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montanes, and heavily degraded former forest. However, some people keep them in greenhouses so that they can eat the plants. Alaska is becoming a major destination for these birds.
- Masked Saltator Saltator cinctus : The Masked Saltator is a cardinal found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The species is found in two small disjunct ranges, as well as smaller localized areas in Ecuador and Peru.
- Black-throated Saltator Saltator atricollis : The Black-throated Saltator is a songbird traditionally placed in the Cardinalidae family, but it probably belongs in the Tanager / Thraupidae instead. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and dry savanna.
- Rufous-bellied Saltator Saltator rufiventris : The Rufous-Bellied Saltator is a cardinal found in Argentina and Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Footnotes
- Jobling & Fowling (1992)
- Ridgway (1901)
- Echeverry-Galvis & Córdoba-Córdoba (2006)
- Hellack & Schnell (1977)
- Klicka et al. (2000), Ericson & Johansson (2003)
- Klicka et al. (2004)
References
- Echeverry-Galvis, María Ángela & Córdoba-Córdoba, Sergio (2006): Descripción del huevo del saltátor collarejo (Saltator cinctus) y comentarios preliminares sobre huevos del género Saltator. ["Description of the egg of the Masked Saltator (S. cinctus) and preliminary comments on the eggs of the genus Saltator"]. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16(1): 76-84. [Spanish with English abstract] PDF fulltext
- Ericson, Per G.P. & Johansson, U.S. (2003): Phylogeny of Passerida (Aves: Passeriformes) based on nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 126-138.
- Hellack, J.J. & Schnell, G.D. (1977): Phenetic analysis of the subfamily Cardinalinae using external and skeletal characteristics. Wilson Bulletin 89: 130-148.
- Jobling, James A. & Fowling, Richard (1991): A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-854634-3
- Klicka, John; Johnson, K.P. & Lanyon, S.M. (2000): New World nine-primaried oscine relationships: constructing a mitochondrial DNA framework. Auk 117: 321-326.
- Klicka, John; Burns, Kevin J. & Spellman, Garth M. (2004): Defining a monophyletic Cardinalidae: a molecular perspective. 122nd Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, Presentation 40. PDF abstract
- Ridgway, R. (1901): The birds of North and Middle America, etc.. Part 1. Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum 50(1): 1-715.
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