Ergaticus
Encyclopedia
Ergaticus is a genus of New World warbler
s — small passerine
bird
s found only in the Americas
. The name is the Latin
ized version of the Ancient Greek
ergatikos, meaning "willing or able to work". The genus contains two sister species: the Red Warbler
, which is endemic to the Mexican
highland
s north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
, and the Pink-headed Warbler
, which is found south of the Isthmus, from the highlands of Chiapas
, Mexico down into Guatemala
. Though they are separated by geography and differ considerably in plumage
, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
Both are average-sized warblers. Adult plumage
is largely red, while juvenile plumage is largely "pinkish cinnamon-brown". The bill is small and narrow at the base even for a New World warbler. The tail is rounded and relatively long (Ridgway 1902). The songs consist of high-pitched chips and short trills (Howell and Webb 1995).
They live in forests at altitudes of 1800 to 3500 m (5,905.5 to 11,482.9 ft). They occur singly or in pairs and may join mixed-species feeding flock
s (Howell and Webb 1995).
The nest is shaped like an old-fashioned oven with an opening to the top or side, made of pine needles, grass, or similar materials. It is placed on the ground or on a bank. Both can lay 3 or 4 eggs; the Pink-headed Warbler sometimes lays only 2. The eggs are off-white with reddish-brown and gray speckles (Howell and Webb 1995).
created the genus Ergaticus in 1865, using it to separate several species from what he felt was the closely related genus Cardellina. Prior to the creation and widespread acceptance of this genus, the Red Warbler
and Pink-headed Warbler
were placed in various other warbler genera, including Setophaga (with the American Redstart
), Cardellina (with the Red-faced Warbler
), and Basileuterus
(a widespread genus of tropical warblers) — as well as the Old World warbler
genus Sylvia and the Old World
tit genus Parus
. Recent DNA
analysis shows that Ergaticus falls comfortably within the New World warbler clade
, along with 18 other genera
. It is closest to the genus Cardellina, with which it shares a common ancestor, and slightly more distantly related to the genus Wilsonia
.
There are two sister species, separated by the low-lying Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the genus. The Red Warbler, E. ruber, is found in the Mexican highlands north of the isthmus. Its three subspecies
, which differ slightly in appearance, are found in three disjunct populations
. The Pink-headed Warbler, E. versicolor, is found south of the isthmus, in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico and western Guatemala. It is monotypic
across its limited range.
Though they are separated by geography and differ considerably in plumage
, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
Ergaticus is the Latin
ized version of the Ancient Greek
ergatikos, meaning "willing or able to work".
, with rictal bristles that extend more than halfway down their length.
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
s — small passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
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...
s found only in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. The name is the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ized version of the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
ergatikos, meaning "willing or able to work". The genus contains two sister species: the Red Warbler
Red Warbler
The Red Warbler is a small passerine bird endemic to the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is closely related to, and forms a superspecies with, the Pink-headed Warbler of southern Mexico and Guatemala. There are three subspecies, which are found in disjunct populations...
, which is endemic to the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
highland
Highland (geography)
The term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...
s north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
, and the Pink-headed Warbler
Pink-headed Warbler
The Pink-headed Warbler is a small passerine bird found in the southwestern highlands of Guatemala and the central and southeastern highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The adult is primarily red, with a silvery-pink head and chest...
, which is found south of the Isthmus, from the highlands of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
, Mexico down into Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. Though they are separated by geography and differ considerably in plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
Both are average-sized warblers. Adult plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
is largely red, while juvenile plumage is largely "pinkish cinnamon-brown". The bill is small and narrow at the base even for a New World warbler. The tail is rounded and relatively long (Ridgway 1902). The songs consist of high-pitched chips and short trills (Howell and Webb 1995).
They live in forests at altitudes of 1800 to 3500 m (5,905.5 to 11,482.9 ft). They occur singly or in pairs and may join mixed-species feeding flock
Mixed-species feeding flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species, that join each other and move together while foraging...
s (Howell and Webb 1995).
The nest is shaped like an old-fashioned oven with an opening to the top or side, made of pine needles, grass, or similar materials. It is placed on the ground or on a bank. Both can lay 3 or 4 eggs; the Pink-headed Warbler sometimes lays only 2. The eggs are off-white with reddish-brown and gray speckles (Howell and Webb 1995).
Taxonomy
Spencer Fullerton BairdSpencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
created the genus Ergaticus in 1865, using it to separate several species from what he felt was the closely related genus Cardellina. Prior to the creation and widespread acceptance of this genus, the Red Warbler
Red Warbler
The Red Warbler is a small passerine bird endemic to the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is closely related to, and forms a superspecies with, the Pink-headed Warbler of southern Mexico and Guatemala. There are three subspecies, which are found in disjunct populations...
and Pink-headed Warbler
Pink-headed Warbler
The Pink-headed Warbler is a small passerine bird found in the southwestern highlands of Guatemala and the central and southeastern highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The adult is primarily red, with a silvery-pink head and chest...
were placed in various other warbler genera, including Setophaga (with the American Redstart
American Redstart
The American Redstart is a New World warbler. It is the only member of its genus and is unrelated to the Old World redstarts. It derives its name from the male's red tail, start being an old word for tail.-Description:...
), Cardellina (with the Red-faced Warbler
Red-faced Warbler
The Red-faced Warbler is a species of New World warbler.Mature Red-faced Warblers are small birds, 14 cm long. They are light gray on top with a white rump and a white underside. The face, neck, and upper breast are all bright red, while the crown and sides of the head are black...
), and Basileuterus
Basileuterus
Basileuterus is a genus of New World warblers, best represented in Central and South America. This is one of only two warbler genera that are well represented in the latter continent...
(a widespread genus of tropical warblers) — as well as the Old World warbler
Old World warbler
The "Old World Warblers" is the name used to describe a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into...
genus Sylvia and the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
tit genus Parus
Parus
Parus is a genus of Old World birds in the tit family. As defined here, it contains the following species:* Genus Parus** White-shouldered Tit Parus guineensis, sometimes separated in Melaniparus...
. Recent DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis shows that Ergaticus falls comfortably within the New World warbler clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
, along with 18 other genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
. It is closest to the genus Cardellina, with which it shares a common ancestor, and slightly more distantly related to the genus Wilsonia
Wilsonia
Wilsonia is a small genus of New World warblers which breed in North America. They are migratory, wintering south of their breeding ranges in Central America, the West Indies or South America.The three species are:* Hooded Warbler, Wilsonia citrina...
.
There are two sister species, separated by the low-lying Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the genus. The Red Warbler, E. ruber, is found in the Mexican highlands north of the isthmus. Its three subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
, which differ slightly in appearance, are found in three disjunct populations
Disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
. The Pink-headed Warbler, E. versicolor, is found south of the isthmus, in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico and western Guatemala. It is monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
across its limited range.
Though they are separated by geography and differ considerably in plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
Ergaticus is the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ized version of the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
ergatikos, meaning "willing or able to work".
Description
These are medium-sized warblers, measuring 12.5 – in length, and weighing 7.6 –; the Pink-headed Warbler is, on average, slightly the heavier of the two. As adults, their overall color is red, with duller wings and tails; juveniles are tawny-brown, with slightly paler underparts. The Red Warbler has white or silvery-gray ear patches (the color depends on the subspecies), while the Pink-headed Warbler's head and chest are silvery-pink. The sexes are similar in both species. They have long, rounded wings and fairly long, rounded tails. They have small, narrow billsBeak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, with rictal bristles that extend more than halfway down their length.