trogon n : forest bird of warm regions of the New World having brilliant lustrous plumage and long tails

English

Noun

trogon

1. Any of several species of bird, most of which live in Central and South America, have colorful feathers, and nest in holes in trees.

Translations

• Spanish: trogón

The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. They are the only type of animal with a heterodactyly toe arrangement. Alternatively, they might constitute a member of the basal radiation of the order Coraciiformes. The word "trogon" is Greek for "nibbling" and refers to the fact that these birds gnaw holes in trees to make their nests.

Trogons are residents of tropical forests worldwide, with the greatest diversity in Central and South America. The genus Apaloderma contains the three African species, and Harpactes the Asian. The rest are neotropical.

They feed on insects and fruit, and their broad bills and weak legs reflect their diet and arboreal habits. Although their flight is fast, they are reluctant to fly any distance. Trogons do not migrate.

Trogons have soft, often colourful, feathers with distinctive male and female plumage. They nest in holes in trees or termite nests, laying white or pastel-coloured eggs.

Trogons in the genera Pharomachrus and Euptilotis are called "quetzals".

Evolution and taxonomy

The position of the trogons within the class Aves has been a long-standing mystery. A variety of relations have been suggested, including the parrots, cuckoos, toucans, jacamars and puffbirds, rollers, owls and nightjars. More recent morphological evidence has suggested a relationship with the Coraciiformes. The unique arrangement of the toes on the foot (see morphology and flight) has led many to consider the trogons to have no close relatives, and to place them in their own order, possibly with the similarly atypical mousebirds as their closest relatives.

The family is thought to have an Old World origin (but see Moyle (2005) for an alternative theory), notwithstanding the current richness of the family, which is more diverse in the Neotropical New World. The oldest fossils attributed to the order were found in the London Clay deposits from the Eocene in England. Other trogoniform fossils have been found in Oligocene rocks from Switzerland and Miocene France. The youngest New World fossil of a trogon is from the comparatively recent Pleistocene. DNA evidence seems to support and African origin for the trogons, with the African genus Apaloderma seemingly basal in the family, and the other two lineages, the Asian and American, breaking off between 20-36 million years ago. The trogons are split into three subfamilies, each reflecting one of these splits, Aplodermatinae is the African subfamily and contains a single genus, Apaloderma; Harpactinae is the Asian subfamily and contains two genera, Harpactes and Apalharpactes. Apalharpactes, consisting of two species in the Java and Sumatra, has only recently been accepted as a separate genus from Harpactes.

The remaining subfamily, the Neotropical Trogoninae, contains the remaining five genera, Trogon, Priotelus, Temnotrogon, Pharomachrus and Eupilotis.

Distribution and habitat

Trogons are territorial and monogamous. Males will respond quickly to playbacks of their calls and will repel other members of the same species and even other hole nesting species from around their nesting sites. Males attract females by singing, Some species have been observed in small flocks of multiple males (and some females) prior to the breeding season, but the function of these flocks is unknown.

Trogons are cavity nesters. Nests are dug into rotting wood or termite nests,

• Order Trogoniformes
  • Family Trogonidae
    • Genus Apaloderma
      • Narina Trogon, Apaloderma narina
      • Bare-cheeked Trogon, Apaloderma aequatoriale
      • Bar-tailed Trogon, Apaloderma vittatum
    • Genus Apalharpactes
      • Javan Trogon, Apalharpactes reinwardtii
      • Sumatran Trogon Apalharpactes mackloti
    • Genus Harpactes
      • Malabar Trogon, Harpactes fasciatus
      • Red-naped Trogon, Harpactes kasumba
      • Diard's Trogon, Harpactes diardii
      • Philippine Trogon, Harpactes ardens
      • Whitehead's Trogon, Harpactes whiteheadi
      • Cinnamon-rumped Trogon, Harpactes orrhophaeus
      • Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Harpactes duvaucelii
      • Red-headed Trogon, Harpactes erythrocephalus
      • Orange-breasted Trogon, Harpactes oreskios
      • Ward's Trogon, Harpactes wardi
    • Genus Priotelus
      • Cuban Trogon, Priotelus temnurus
    • Genus Temnotrogon (sometimes retained inside Priotelus)
      • Hispaniolan Trogon, Temnotrogon roseigaster
    • Genus Trogon
      • Black-headed Trogon, Trogon melanocephalus
      • Citreoline Trogon, Trogon citreolus
      • White-tailed Trogon, Trogon viridis
      • Baird's Trogon, Trogon bairdii
      • Violaceous Trogon, Trogon violaceus
      • Mountain Trogon, Trogon mexicanus
      • White-eyed Trogon, Trogon comptus
      • Collared Trogon, Trogon collaris
      • Elegant Trogon, Trogon elegans
      • Orange-bellied Trogon, Trogon aurantiiventris
      • Masked Trogon, Trogon personatus
      • Black-throated Trogon, Trogon rufus
      • Surucua Trogon, Trogon surrucura
      • Blue-crowned Trogon, Trogon curucui
      • Black-tailed Trogon, Trogon melanurus
      • Slaty-tailed Trogon, Trogon massena
      • Lattice-tailed Trogon, Trogon clathratus
    • Genus Euptilotis
      • Eared Quetzal, Euptilotis neoxenus
    • Genus Pharomachrus
      • Resplendent Quetzal, Pharomachrus mocinno
      • Crested Quetzal, Pharomachrus antisianus
      • White-tipped Quetzal, Pharomachrus fulgidus
      • Golden-headed Quetzal, Pharomachrus auriceps
      • Pavonine Quetzal, Pharomachrus pavoninus

References

External links

• Trogon videos on the Internet Bird Collection