The Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus) is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Thraupidae family. It is found in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, French Guyana, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, and Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s and heavily degraded former forest. A nickname in Panama is sangre de toro ("Blood of the bull").

The Crimson-backed Tanager was first described by French naturalist Frédéric de Lafresnaye

Frédéric de Lafresnaye

Baron Nöel Frédéric Armand André de Lafresnaye was a French ornithologist and collector.Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy. He took an early interest in natural history, particularly entomology...

 in 1837. It is one of nine species of brightly coloured tanagers of the genus Ramphocelus

Ramphocelus

Ramphocelus is a Neotropical genus of birds of the tanager family. They have enlarged shiny whitish or bluish-grey lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in display. However, this is greatly reduced in the females of most species...

. Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates its closest relative is the Masked Crimson Tanager

Masked Crimson Tanager

The Masked Crimson Tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae.It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru....

 (R. nigrogularis), and the two split around 800,000 years ago.

Measuring around 18 cm (7 in) in length, the adult male has a silver sheen on its lower mandible. Its whole head and chest are a maroon red, brightening to a bright red on its lower back and abdomen. Its wings and tail are black. The female is duller with blackish underparts.

It is found in northern and western Colombia (south to Chocó

Chocó Department

Chocó is a department of Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has all of Colombia's border with Panama. Its capital is...

 where it is uncommon), the Maracaibo Basin

Maracaibo Basin

The Maracaibo Basin in Western Venezuela is a prolific, oil-producing sedimentary basin. The basin is bounded on the north by the Oca Fault which separates it from the Caribbean Sea. The remaining sides of the basin are bounded by a branching in the northern Andes Mountains termed the Sierra de...

 in Venezuela, and over most of Panama, where it extends to Chiriquí

Chiriquí Province

Chiriquí is a province of Panama, it is located on the western coast of Panama, and it is also the second most developed province in the country, after the Panamá Province. Its capital is the city of David. It has a total area of 6,490.9 km², with a population of 416,873 as of the year 2010...

 and Veraguas Province

Veraguas Province

Veraguas is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country. The capital is the city of Santiago de Veraguas. The province covers 10,677.2 km² and is divided into twelve districts.-History:...

s in the west of the country, as well as Coiba

Coiba

Coiba is the largest island in Central America, with an area of 503 square kilometers, off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Veraguas. It is part of the Montijo District of that province.-History:...

, where it is abundant, and Pearl Islands

Pearl Islands

The Pearl Islands are a group of 100 or more islands lying about off the Pacific coast of Panama in the Gulf of Panama.- Islands :...

. It inhabits forest, scrub and gardens.

A nest with a clutch of two blue eggs with fine dark dots has been recorded.

A field study on blood parasites found that two individual Crimson-backed Tanagers (out of twelve tested) bore Plasmodium

Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a genus of parasitic protists. Infection by these organisms is known as malaria. The genus Plasmodium was described in 1885 by Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli. Currently over 200 species of this genus are recognized and new species continue to be described.Of the over 200 known...

, with the study concluding the overall rate was low compared with studies done elsewhere.