The fruithunter or fruit-hunter (Chlamydochaera jefferyi), also known as the black-breasted fruit-hunter, is an enigmatic species of bird currently placed with the typical thrushes in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to forests on the south-east Asian island of Borneo.[2]

Fruithunter
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Chlamydochaera
Sharpe, 1887
Species:
C. jefferyi
Binomial name
Chlamydochaera jefferyi
Sharpe, 1887

It is highly distinct from other thrushes, instead being convergent to Corvoidea such as trillers (Lalage) or true orioles (Oriolus). Thus it is placed in a monotypic genus Chlamydochaera.[citation needed] It was formerly called the black-breasted triller and placed within the family Campephagidae. Its breeding biology has only been recently detailed.[3] The female fruithunter broods and incubates the two eggs that are laid, and the male assists in feeding the nestlings.

The fruithunter is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.[1]

This species was first described in 1887 by Richard Bowdler Sharpe based on specimens of a male and female collected on Mount Kinabalu.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2016). "Chlamydochaera jefferyi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22708965A94187089. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22708965A94187089.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Phillipps, Quentin & Phillipps, Karen (2011). Phillipps' Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Oxford, UK: John Beaufoy Publishing. ISBN 978-1-906780-56-2.
  3. ^ Mitchell, A. E.; Tuh, F.; and R. E. Martin (2017). Breeding biology of an endemic Bornean turdid, the Fruithunter (Chlamydochaera jefferyi), and life history comparisons with Turdus species of the world. Wilson Journal of Ornithology (129(1): 36--45). https://www.umt.edu/coop-unit/martinlab/tommartin/research-projects/mitchell-et-al-2017-wils-j-orn-fruithunter.pdf
  4. ^ Sharpe, R. B. (1887). Notes on a collection of birds made by Mr. John Whitehead on the Mountain of Kina Balu, in Northern Borneo, with Descriptions of New Species. The Ibis Fifth Series, Volume 5; pp. 435--454