The Venezuelan crypto-tail [1] , or the tepui crypto-tail [1] , or the Venezuelan crypturellus [2] ( lat. Crypturellus ptaritepui ) is a species of terrestrial tinamu family living in the mountainous moist forests of Tepui , in southeast Venezuela [3] .
| Venezuelan Foxtail |
| Scientific classification |
|---|
| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Squad: | Tinamoobraznye ( Tinamiformes Huxley , 1872 ) |
| Subfamily : | Forest Chinamu |
|
| International scientific name |
|---|
Crypturellus ptaritepui ( Zimmer & , 1945 ) |
| Security status |
|---|
Least ConcernedIUCN 3.1 Least Concern : 22678172 |
|
Venezuelan crypturellus is a monotypic species [3] . All species from the family of the same name, as well as a large tree of ratites . Unlike other ratites, tinamu can fly, although in general, they do it badly. All ratites are descended from prehistoric birds, and tinamu are their closest living relatives [4] .
The name Crypturellus comes from three Latin or Greek words: kruptos - “closed” or “secretive”, oura - tail, and ellus “small”. Thus, the name Crypturellus means "small secretive tail" [5] .
Venezuelan crypturellus is approximately 27 cm long. The crown of his head and the back of his neck are reddish-brown, slightly dark back and brown bottom with a bright red upper chest. The sides of the head and throat are gray, the upper part of the beak is black, and the lower is yellow with a black tip. Legs are olive.
Like other tinamu , Venezuelan crypturellus eats fruits that are on the ground or low bushes [4] . Birds also feed on a small number of invertebrates , buds , fleshy leaves, seeds and roots [4] . The male hatches eggs, which can be from 4 different females, and then looks after the chicks, usually 2-3 weeks, until they stand on their feet [4] . The nest is located on the ground in dense grass or an elevated root support [4] .
Venezuelan crypturellus is found in Ptari Tepui , Auyan Tepui , Chimanta Tepui and Soropan Tepui in southeastern Bolivar State . It lives at an altitude of 1350-1800 m, and the favorite habitat of birds is humid tropical mountain forests or terrain [6] .
IUCN classifies the species as being the least threatened with an existing range of 1000 km² [7] . The bird is on the list of protected species of Venezuela [6] .
