Long-Tailed Earthen Raksha

This earthen raksha exists at an extremely low population density throughout the range. This species needs a shadow and a thick layer of leaf litter on the surface of the earth, and it is absent in those parts of thorny thickets that do not meet these requirements. This is a monotypic species and has not described subspecies . His closest relative is scaly earthen rash . Long-tailed earthen raksha is the only representative of the earthen rash family with a certain sexual dimorphism (differences in plumage and size between the sexes). This is a medium-sized bird with a compact body silhouette and a long tail. The upper surface of the body is dark brown with black veins, while the bottom is light gray. The white throat is framed by black strips of "mustache" and a black stripe connected to them on the chest, another white stripe runs from the base of the beak to the back of the head. Sky blue feathers are visible at the edges of the wings and tail. Sounds are extremely rare outside the breeding season, although they are plentiful during courtship.

These earthen rakshas mainly feed on invertebrates, including ants, bugs, butterflies and worms, which they are looking for a thick layer of leaf litter or, hiding on the surface of the litter and carefully looking for prey. Long-tailed earthen raksha mainly moves around the habitat, running, their legs are very strong, while the wings are relatively weak. Long-tailed earthen rakshaki monogamous, they protect nesting territory from October to February during the breeding season. This species digs a hole in the sand, at the end of which it expands into chambers, where the raksha makes a nest of leaves and earth pellets. Clutch consists of 2-4 eggs. After the chicks fledge, the birds continue to live in family groups until at least February.

According to the IUCN classification, this species is vulnerable and is at risk of habitat destruction. The spiny arid forests in which the species lives are not protected by the laws of the Malagasy government, and thus, the habitats of this species are destroyed as a result of various economic activities, such as slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal mining, and logging. At this time, the indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar also hunted for this type of earthen raksh.

British banker and naturalist Walter Rothschild first described long-tailed earthen rash in 1895, giving it the scientific name Uratelornis chimaera . Rothschild published his description in Novitates Zoologicae , a periodical of his private museum ^{[2] [3]} . The ancient ancestral (ancestral) adaptations of long-tailed earthen rash, necessary for it to live in shrubbery, led Rothschild to the idea of ​​isolating this species in the monotypic genus Uratelornis ^[4] . The name of the genus Uratelornis comes from the ancient Greek word oura "tail" and Atelornis , belonging to another genus of earthen raksh ^[5] . Atelornis comes from the ancient Greek words ateles “indefinite or incomplete” and ornis “bird” ^[5] . The species name, Χίμαιρα ( chimaera ), refers us to the ancient Greek mythological monster, known as the chimera ^[6] . Long-tailed earthen raksha belongs to the family of earthen rakshas , which received their Russian name due to the common similarity with rakshas and a land-based lifestyle ^[4] . Until recently, earthen crayfish, kurol, and crayfish proper belonged to the single family Coraciidae, in which each of the three groups was allocated into the subfamily ^{[4] [7]} . However, in 1971, Joel Krakraft allocated earthen rakshas to a separate family, based on their significant differences in the behavior, plumage and structure of the postcranial skeleton ^[8] . This point was later confirmed by data on the structure of DNA ^[7] . It has been suggested that it is not yet widely accepted that earthen rakshahs are close relatives of puffs and yakamars ^{[4] [9]} . There is a hypothesis that the ancestor of long-tailed earthen rash was a tree rash that moved from Africa to Madagascar and switched to a land-based lifestyle before moving from tropical forests to arid shrub thickets typical of long-tailed rash ^[4] . No fossils of this genus have been found. Genetic analysis shows that the closest relative of this bird species is squamous earthen rash ^[7] . Subspecies of long-tailed earthen rash are not described ^[4] .

An endemic to the island of Madagascar, long-tailed earthen raksha inhabits a narrow strip of suitable habitats on the coast in the southwestern part of the island ^[4] . This strip is bounded by the Mangoki River in the north and in the south and a ridge of low hills in the east ^[4] . In general, the range of this species is about 10,500 km2. However, this species is extremely rare within the range, the population density ranges from 0.8 to 10 individuals per km ^[10] . The range of this species covers the altitude range from sea level to 100 m above sea level. m. ^[4] Long-tailed earthen rash do not migrate, although it can settle in a larger area outside the breeding season ^[4] .

A typical biotope of this species is Madagascar spiny thickets , mixed deciduous forests with sub-arid xerophytic shrubs growing on sandy soils and receiving on average only 500 mm of rainfall per year ^[4] . The dominant plants in them are cactus-like plants from the Didieri family (especially ) and to a greater extent tree-like representatives of the euphorbia family (especially ) ^[4] . Baobabs of the genus Adansonia are also very common ^[4] . Previously, it was assumed that long-tailed earthen raksha prefers undisturbed forests to its habitat, and is capable of tolerating only a small degree of disturbance ^[4] . More recent studies have shown that this species actually inhabits degraded habitats with severe disturbances ^[10] . Despite this, the presence of shade is necessary, and this species was not found in treeless habitats or shadowless dunes, which are very common throughout the range of this species ^{[4] [10]} .

Long-tailed earthen rash is a cautious bird that is difficult to notice. If she noticed a human observer, then she either freezes or runs away. So the short wings of this species suggest that it rarely flies, but it is a powerful good runner ^[4] . Although this species leads mainly a terrestrial way of life, earthen rakshas sit on low trees and shrubs, and also sings from low pristas ^[10] . Long-tailed earthen rash is single during the breeding season. Although they are daytime, sometimes they feed at night, unlike most other earthen rakshah ^[11] . During vocalization, this species shakes its head and raises its tail ^[4] . Long-tailed earthen rash raises the tail also when excited ^[4] .

Nutrition

This species feeds almost exclusively on the ground, where they alternate quiet stops and careful looking with active search, for which they dig leaf litter ^[4] . They feed on a wide range of invertebrates, including ants, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, grasshoppers, wood lice and worms, and sometimes small vertebrates. Despite the limited ability to fly, long-tailed earthen rachs are able to catch butterflies in the air, as has been noticed ^[4] .

Reproduction

The breeding season coincides with the rainy season , which lasts from October to January ^[4] . During this period, representatives of this species abandon their individualistic habits in order to find a mate in which they remain monogamous . Males form nesting territories during the breeding season, and they protect them with the help of territorial cries ^[4] . These screams are given from an additive 6 meters high from the surface of the earth within an hour after sunrise and from time to time during the day and night ^[4] . During courtship, ritual feeding by males of females was observed ^[4] .

Males and females of long-tailed earthen rachs using their beaks and feet dig a hole in a dense, even sandy place and build a nest at the end of this hole ^{[4] [11] [12] A} hollow descending hole is always built outside of grassy vegetation; it is descending and ranges from 0.8 up to 1.2 meters in length with a diameter of 8 cm. The end of the hole expands into a 20-cm-wide chamber with a shallow indentation, covered with dry leaves and earth pellets ^[4] . During the construction of a burrow, a long-tailed earthen raksha sometimes sits under the protection of the lower branches, raises its head up, and, while remaining motionless, emits an ascending crescendo of its characteristic ( tu-tuk ) cries. At the peak of the crescendo, the bird interrupts the cry and flies up to the branch, producing a “crack” from the impact of the wings ^[13] . From the front of the bird, a bird emits a buu- note stream. This demonstration is considered part of the marriage ritual ^[13] .

• Shouts of Long-Tailed Earthen Raksha at xeno-canto.org

Each pair digs from one to six nesting holes during the breeding season ^[11] .

From October to January (with a peak in November), the species usually lays two smooth white eggs, although sometimes they lay three or four ^{[4] [10]} . The incubation period and time of departure of the chicks in this earthen rash is unknown ^[4] . After the young ones fly out of the nest, they live in a family group of four to five birds until about February, until the family breaks up ^[11] .

IUCN is classified as a vulnerable species due to ongoing habitat destruction and deterioration in the quality of its remaining habitats ^[10] , long-tailed earthen rash are considered to be the most threatened species of earthen rash ^[4] . Thirty percent of its already small habitats have degraded between the mid-1970s and the 2000s. Slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal production, cattle overgrazing all contributed to the loss of habitats ^[4] . As of 2012, no natural reserves have been created to protect at least part of the habitats of this species. As a result, biotopes of this species have been described as the region of Madagascar most in need of conservation efforts ^{[10] [14]} . This one also suffers from hunting and picking eggs . In addition to humans, dogs also prey on long-tailed earthen rash, and an introduced black rat busts the nests of this species ^[4] . This earthen raksha is capable of experiencing some environmental degradation, but needs the necessary shade and leaf litter for subsequent habitation in the area ^[4] . Despite the fact that this species was quite common at the beginning of the twentieth century, its population fell into decay, and it was considered rare already in the 1960s ^[12] . As of 2012, the population of long-tailed earthen rash is estimated between 9,500 and 32,700 birds and continues to decline ^[10] .

Due to the fact that the long-tailed earthen rash is surprisingly quiet and difficult to see outside the nesting season, the local inhabitants of Madagascar believed that these birds winter in their burrows. Although long-tailed earthen rash is not distinguished by any special taste, this species was hunted for food because of its rather large size and relatively easy prey compared to woody birds ^[4] . At the beginning of the twentieth century, shepherds hunted them with the help of wind pipes ^[12] . In the 1950s and 1960s, indigenous people caught raksh using traps and dug from nesting holes ^[12] . This bird was depicted on several postage stamps of Madagascar ^[15] . Just one zoo in the world, the Walsrode bird park in Germany contains this species ^[16] . Among amateur birdwatchers, long-tailed earthen rash is considered one of the most elusive species in the world ^[17] .

• BirdLife International 2004. Uratelornis chimaera . 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 July 2007.
• Madagascar: An Environmental Profile . - Gland, Switzerland: IUCN / UNEP / WWF, 1987. - ISBN 978-2-88032-607-4 .
• Jobling, James A. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. - London: Christopher Helm, 2010 .-- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
• Langrand, Olivier (2001), "Family Brachypteraciidae (Ground-rollers)", in del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi, Handbook of the Birds of the World , vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills, Barcelona: Lynx Editions, ISBN 84-87334-30-X  

• Image Gallery at ARKive.org
• Original description at the Internet Bird Collection.
• Videos at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.