Musophaga

Musophaga is a genus of African birds in the family Musophagidae.

Musophaga
Ross's turaco (Musophaga rossae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Musophagiformes
Family: Musophagidae
Genus: Musophaga
Isert, 1788

Description

Like most members of the Musophagidae, both species stand out with their colorful plumage. The Violet turaco has a shiny metallic and violet shimmering plumage; in the Ross turaco the purple shimmer are more pronounced. In both species, the hand wings glow with crimson hems and peaks crimson. The responsible red copper-containing dye Turacin, which is unique in the bird world only within the family Musophagidae, is washed out in rainy weather or bathing in slightly alkaline water in small quantities. To ensure that the red dye does not disappear over time, the molt creates new feathers that take up turacin through the body. Fully developed feathers can not remove dye from the body.

In both species, the forehead and the crest are crimson. The over the lower eyelid running white streak in Violet turaco is not present in the Ross turaco. At the beak root, the beak is relatively bulging, strongly rounded towards the tip of the beak and merges into a shield-like round plate on the forehead. The non-feathered nostrils are elongated horizontally in the middle of the beak towards the beak tip.

Species

It contains the following species:

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Musophaga violaceaViolet turacoWest Africa, from Senegal through to the Nigeria, with an isolated population in Chad and Central African Republic.
Musophaga rossaeRoss's turacoAngola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia


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