A recent work published by F. Gary Stiles in the Journal of Colombian Ornithology (Revista Ornitología Colombiana) presents evidence that the group of the Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota) could be composed of at least 5 species based on differences in plumage patterns, biometrics, vocalizations, supplemented by information on geographic distributions and ecology. Some of the groups such as the Highland Motmot (M. m. aequatorialis), had previously attained the status of species, but were ultimately grouped as a subspecies of M. momota by the South American Classification Committee (SACC prop. 117) due to lack of evidence supporting this status. This new proposal by Stiles has prompted a re-examination of this topic by the SACC (prop. 412). This controversy demonstrates the great need for increased research on many groups of Neotropical birds, especially at genetic level.
Without endorsing either side of this controversy, I wanted to present some images and recordings of the songs of the candidate species. I would like to thank all of the people and institutions that allowed me to use their photographs and sound recordings for this post.
For a detailed discussion on plumage characteristics of each group I suggest consulting Appendix 2 of the original publication located here.
Click on the play button to listen to the songs.
Blue-diademed Motmot (Momotus momota lessonni)
Including the following subspecies: M. m. goldmani and coeruliceps
Distribution: from extreme southern Mexico to southwestern Panama.
Blue-diademed Motmot – Costa Rica
Link to the original file.
Blue-diademed Motmot © Gary Ashley
Highland (Andean) Motmot (Momotus momota aequatorialis)
Inlcuding: M. m. chlorolaemus
Distribution: Andes from NC Colombia to NE Bolivia.
Highland (Andean) Motmot – Colombia
Link to the original file.
Highland Motmot © David Cook
Whooping Motmot (Momotus momota subrufescens)
Including the following subspecies: M. m.osgoodi, argenticinctus and spatha.
Distribution: C Panama to NC Venezuela and the Magdalena valley of Colombia; SE Ecuador and extreme NW Peru.
M. m. argenticinctus – Ecuador
Link to the original file.
M. m. argenticinctus © Michel Gutiérrez
Trinidad Motmot (Momotus momota bahamensis)
Distribution: Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad Motmot – Trinidad and Tobago
Link to the original file.
Trinidad Motmot © Stephen Turner
Amazonia Motmot (Momotus momota momota)
Including: M. m. microstephanus and several others outside the scope of the study.
Distribution: Venezuela (S of the Orinoco) and the Guianas S through the entire Amazon basin to extreme N Argentina and Paraguay.
M. m. microstephanus – Ecuador
Link to the original file.
Amazonian Motmot from Pantanal, Brazil © Joaquin Mello
Sound files from Xeno-Canto and the Macaulay Library.
Photos under Creative Commons License.
Love this visual and acoustic post!
You indicate this particular situation highlights a need for genetic research, so for classification purposes are the scientists planning to use DNA to decide whether it is actually 5 distinct species?
Thanks! Glad you liked the post Scott. Right now the South American Classification Committee has to make a decision based on published data that rely on biometrics and song analysis. But I think, based on previous proposals, that genetic studies are more desirable for them to agree to split a species. You also have to take into account the fact that they previously lumped together two of the forms that are being discussed right now. Therefore, they are going to need compelling data to reverse their previous decision. I will update this story when a decision is made.
Interesting. I think DNA analyzes are needed for splitting. Lets say it is a tendency for proposing splits or lumps.
Szimi
Hola como estan soy de colombia, es interesante ver la variedad de cantos, me gustaria saber barranquero coronado se le dice aca donde vivo en cali, en el río pance se puede ver pero no se exactamente como es ni que variedad hay, Cuantas especies de momotus momota hay en colombia?
Hola Andrés. Es un poco difícil dar una respuesta exacta a tu pregunta porque los límites entre las especies y subespecies de M. momota están en discusión aún. Puedes revisar este artículo que cito en el post de la revista Ornitología Colombiana para mas detalles (http://www.ornitologiacolombiana.org/oc8/Stiles.pdf).
Saludos
Just a suggestion: Blue-crowned (Blue-diademed) Motmot can be seen by driving just a couple hours south of Texas, so citing its range as extreme southern Mexico is not correct. Thanks for the information, much appreciated.
Hi Bob, M. m. lessonni (Blue-diademed Motmot) ranges from NW Panama to southern Mexico, northwards it’s replaced by M. m. coeruliceps which is not part of the study published by Stiles.
Hello,
Since I have a special interest in the new SACC classification, I looked up and found your website. Very interesting, thank you, but Im afraid that the “Trinidad Mot Mot” call as played back here is incorrect. Could there be a technical problem with the recording? Because this call (nor any of the others btw) is not one of our birds.
Geoffrey
Hi Geoffrey, this is a very old recording from the Macaulay Library at Cornell made by David Snow in 1959! The link to the original file is here: http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/6638 I looked at Xeno-Canto, but I couldn’t find any other recording for that species. If you have one recording maybe you can upload to Xeno-Canto? Thanks!
i think the trinidad motmot have to e studied some more for two reasons:- 1. the name bahamensis needs to be change to trinitatis. 2. the trinidad motmot from trinidad & tobago live in different habitats & the birds from tobago appear to be a little darker in colour than the ones from trinidad.
[...] splits from the Neotropical Region As was anticipated 5 months ago in another post, the South America Classification Committee (SACC) unanimously approved the proposal 412 splitting [...]