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Galliformes and other animals for South America (ïðîäîëæåíèå)
JOrnitho: Hello! I'm back with ideas for some new species for South America. I found in my computer an archive with some ideas for fauna and flora that I had some time ago and decided to show there to ask your opinion about them. The first is about a descendant of the domestic chicken. [more]Copper jacumitan (Jacumita cuprinus) During the Holocene, the man introduced many species in other continents. The jacumitan is a descendant of domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) that are introduced in South America. It replaced the birds in the family Cracidae, which are extinct in the Neocene, in some areas. In a matter of fact, the name jacumitan is the junction of the words jacu, the popular name in Brazil for guans of the Genus Penelope, and the tupi word mitã (mitan) that means new, this way the name means “new guan”. The copper jacumitan is the type species of this genus and lives in the savannas and woodlands of Central South America. The copper jacumitan is sexually dysmorphic. The male measure 190 cm, due to the long tail, it has a bright coppery brown upperbody plumage and reddish-brown feathers below. They also have metallic dark green feathers on the tail and wings. Only males have a bright red naked skin on the face, with two wattles that conceal the sides of its head. This characteristic is shared by all males of the genus Jacumita. The males of the genus also have crests formed by white feathers with black tips. During courtship and panic moments, they rise the crests. The females have 75 cm of length and are cryptic brown and adapted to camouflage, its naked skin on the face is pale pink and don’t have flesh wattles. The young males are similar to the females until they reach 9 weeks, at this time the wattle begin to develop. Both sexes have long orange colored legs and grey beak. The males have spurs that they use in fights for dominance. The neck is long and slim. Copper jacumitans can fly, but prefer to run from the predators flying only as last resort. These birds are omnivorous and feed on insects, seeds, and fruits. Its forage for food by scratching the ground, usually near herbivores this way there is other animals observing for the presence of predators. Often the male sits on a high perch, to serve as a lookout for his group. He sounds an alarm call if predators are nearby. At night it will sleep perched on branches. Copper jacumitans are polygamous; the male will have a harem with 5 to 12 females and will guards the area where his females are nesting, and attack other males that enter his territory. To initiate courting, the males will dance in a circle around or near a female, raising their crests and lowering the wing which is closest to the hen. Then, he will vocalize and when she responds to his call, the male will mount her and proceed with the mating. The females make their nest in the ground, laying 6 to 14 red eggs which are incubated for 22 days. Chicks are precocious, leaving the nest shortly they are born. They fledge in about 4 to 5 weeks, and at 13 weeks old are chased out of the group by their mother, at which point the young males start to form a harem and the females join an existing one. Sexual maturity is reached at 6 months and the lifespan of this species is of 13 years, however is common for males to die early due to predation. Other species in the genus Jacumita are: Golden jacumitan (Jacumita aurea) Living in the forests of the Atlantic coast of South America, the males of this species has 200 cm of length, from beak to tail, while the females have 83 cm. The plumage of the male have a bright golden-yellow plumage in the upperparts, being scarlet in the chest and belly. They have dark metallic green wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown. Red jacumitan (Jacumita amazonica) Living in the "terra firme" forests of the Amazon , the males of this species has 185 cm of length, from beak to tail, while females have 70 cm. The plumage of male is bright orange-red in the upperparts, while their chest and belly is yellow. The males also have dark metallic blue wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown. Andean jacumitan (Jacumita andina) Living in the highland forests in the slopes of the Andes, the males of this species has 170 cm of length, from beak to tail, while females have 68 cm. The plumage of the males is white in the upperparts and yellowish-red in the belly and chest. The males also have dark metallic blue wing feathers and tail while the female is cryptic brown. This other one is about a descendant of the californian quail: Common austral grouse (Tetraoinus australis) During the Holocene, the man introduced many exotic species different habitats, the ancestor of the austral grouse was one of these species. Their ancestor was not a true grouse, but the Californian quail, due to evolutionary convergence they acquired characteristics similar to the true grouses of North America. Living in the forests of Southern South America, the male austral grouse are 55 cm long and the female have 44 cm of length. The male have a dark grey body plumage, black-and-white bridled head pattern, black back and a greyish-blue belly. They have a curving crest or plume, made of six feathers that droops forward (long and black in males /short and brown in females) and long forked blackish tail with white undertail coverts. Females and immature birds are mainly greyish-brown with a light-brown belly. Both sexes have a black bill and relatively long grey legs. Their diet consists mainly of seeds and leaves, but they also eat some berries and insects. In some regions their main source of food are the seeds of trees of the Genus Araucaria. These birds are not elegant fliers, however they sleep perched in branches. Given a choice, they will normally escape on foot. During the courtship, the male austral grouse do displays on a lek, each male have a “personal space”. The males strut around their chose space, doing a display. The display consists of the male posturing himself with the head near the ground. Then, they start to move it from right to left showing their crests, simultaneously they raising the tail feathers, showing their withe undertail coverts. After that, they will raise their heads abruptly and whilst make a highly distinctive mating call. When another male invade the personal space of other, a fight happens, in this case the male will try to take of the crest of the rival, this way they will not be capable to display for the females. The female usually lays approximately 12 spotted eggs. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with vegetation on the ground. Incubation lasts from 21–25 days, usually performed by the female and rarely by the male. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest with their parents within hours of hatching. The male stay with the female until the young leave, with 3 months. The young reach sexual maturity with 1 year, with this age the young males acquire the coloration of an adult male. Their lifespan is of 27 years. In the forests of Tierra del Fuego another species lives, the Black boreal grouse (Tetraoinus nigrus). Their main difference to the other species is that the males have an all-black plumage, with only a faint shade of blue in the chest and brown undertail coverts. The females are similar to that of the common austral grouse. The males have 52 cm and the females 41 cm.[/more] I also have in this archive some names for possible species that I never developed bayond some few facts. Maybe someone could help me make their descriptions.
ëÿãóøêà: I'm agree with Ìåäâåäü.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho Maybe an insular species of deermara? I don't know if a species similar in size and niche can avoid competition with deermara, but possible. Besides Great Antigua and Fernando de Noronha, there is any other island close to Neocenic South America where such animal could live? There are islands closer to southern part of South America (towards Antarctic), maybe this will do?
JOrnitho: Áèîëîã ïèøåò: There are islands closer to southern part of South America (towards Antarctic), maybe this will do? By the map of the Neocene, the Valdes Peninsula became an island. Maybe this insular deermara could live here. It could even have other interesting fauna, don’t you think?
ìåäâåäü: I don't think so. It is too close to the mainland to develop endemic fauna.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho I also agree with ìåäâåäü.
JOrnitho: Yes, this makes sense. I'll think in something else.
JOrnitho: Do you think that could be possible for the tree porcupines of South America to develope modified quills that give them an armored like appearance? Or with an adaptation like that of the Cataphractherium of Africa? While they would be slow in the trees, the "armor" would protect them.
Àâòîð: JOrnitho ïèøåò: to develope modified quills that give them an armored like appearance Scaly porcupines already exist! Part "Caribbean Ark" http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/1karibkv.htm in Russian part of the project - mountain scaly porcupine Squamodermus setosus from Great Antigua.
ëÿãóøêà: I don't see reasons for this adaptotion - armadillos are still exist in neocene, and this form would be less adaptated for arboreal lifestyle.
JOrnitho: Àâòîð ïèøåò: Scaly porcupines already exist! I didn’t saw that, my bad. ëÿãóøêà ïèøåò: I don't see reasons for this adaptotion - armadillos are still exist in neocene, and this form would be less adaptated for arboreal lifestyle. I thought that they could be like the tree pangolins in appearance, but the porcupines would be herbivore. It reminds me that sometime ago I proposed a semi-arboreal armadillo.
Áèîëîã: ëÿãóøêà reasons for this adaptotion Armadillos and porcupines will surely occupy different niches, due to the difference in their diet (insectivorous vs herbivorous). By the way, porcupines exist side by side with pangolins (as counterparts of armadillos) in Africa.
JOrnitho: Áèîëîã This is why I thought that the armored porcupines of South America could exist, since they would fill a different niche. By the way, how is the fauna of rodents in the continent during the Neocene? Could the project use more species or is there enough of them?
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho I think there's enough of them.
JOrnitho: Even small ones? I wanted to make some Cricetidae and Echmyidae descendants.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho Cricetidae Hamsters! OK, I think there are some free niches for them. Echmyidae Oh, these can develop real quills from their hair just like porcupines.
JOrnitho: Yes! Both are my favourite families of rodents. One of the Echmyidae in Brazil, the Amazon bamboo rat, is a very vocal one. His voice is common during the night of the rainforest. JOrnitho ïèøåò: Hamsters! OK, I think there are some free niches for them. What do you think of a hamster like Cricetidae living in the savannas and open areas of South America?
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho hamster like Cricetidae living in the savannas and open areas of South America What is the ancestor?
JOrnitho: Áèîëîã ïèøåò: What is the ancestor? The rodents of the genus Cerradomys.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho OK, so be it.
JOrnitho: I finished the description of the rodent. I was wondering if another species could live in the Island of Valdés, which used to be a peninsula during the Holocene. Cerrado hamster (Paracricetus savana) Order: Rodentia Family: Cricetidae Habitat: Savannas of Central South America. The transition between the Holocene and Neocene had opened several niches that new species could exploit. In South America, a group of rodents descending from the Genus Cerradomys had evolved to survive in the open grasslands of the central areas of the continent. They form the Genus Paracricetus, the New World hamsters. The type species is the Cerrado hamster, a inhabitant of the savannas of Central South America. While only being distantly related to the true hamsters, the members of the Genus Paracricetus had a similar appearance to them due to a case of convergent evolution. They developed elastic cheek pouches, which are used to help them move food to be stored in their dens. The Cerrado hamster is the largest representative of this group, with 20 cm of length. Unlike true hamsters, the Paracricetus have a relatively long tail. In the Cerrado hamster, it measures 9 cm. This species has brown fur in their upperparts, while the chest and belly are black. This species eats seeds, legumes, root vegetables, grasses and insects. It transports its food in its elastic cheek pouches to the food storage chambers, which can be large. The common hamster is a nocturnal and crepuscular species that lives in a complex burrow system. They are monogamous, in the case of the death of one of the members of the pair, the other will seek a new partner immediately. This species breed during the entire year.The gestation period is 18 days and the size of the litter ranges from three to 15 young, which are weaned when aged three weeks. The female can become pregnant again shortly after giving birth. Sexual maturity is reached when they are about 43 days old. At this age, they will be expelled by their parents from their territory. The lifespan of this species is one year. The Patagonian hamster (Paracricetus patagonicus) is another representative of this genus. An inhabitant of the Patagonian plains. They have 18 cm of length and a yellowish-brown fur with white underparts. Due to the cold winters of Patagonia, this species stores more food than their Northern relatives, making great piles in their dens. During this period, the Patagonian hamster hibernates, waking every five to seven days to feed from the storage chambers.
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