Neomorphus radiolosus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	Cuculiformes	Cuculidae

Scientific Name:

Neomorphus radiolosus

Species Authority:

Sclater & Salvin, 1878

Common Name/s:

English

–

Banded Ground-cuckoo, Banded Ground Cuckoo

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Endangered C2a(i) ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2009

Assessor/s

BirdLife International

Evaluator/s:

Bird, J., Butchart, S.(BirdLife International)

Justification:
This species occurs at very low population densities and is often absent even from seemingly appropriate habitat; overall it is considered to have a very small and fragmented population that is isolated in small subpopulations. In most of its range, habitat loss and degradation are proceeding rapidly, indicating that there are significant and ongoing declines in range and population. Locally it is opportunistically hunted for food. This combination of factors has led to its uplisting to Endangered.

History:

2008	–	Vulnerable
2004	–	Vulnerable
2000	–	Vulnerable
1994	–	Endangered
1988	–	Threatened

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Neomorphus radiolosus is found on the Pacific slope of the West Andes in south-west Colombia (Valle, Cauca, Nariño) and north-west Ecuador (Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Pichincha). It was recorded only rarely until 1988, since when it has been found in three areas in Colombia and at least six in Ecuador^{1,4,5,6,14,15,16,18,19,20}. Hunters in the Junín area, Nariño, reported in the 1990s that they saw it every few months, but it is evidently a low-density species⁶.
Countries:	Native: Colombia; Ecuador
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	Population estimate = 0.125-0.5 individuals/km2 x 3,740 km2 (20% EOO) = 468-1,870, i.e. best placed within band 1,000-2,499 (upper density estimate based on estimates for N. geoffroyi in the BirdLife Population Density Spreadsheet, lower estimate according to extensive surveys in Esmeraldas sensu O. Jahn in litt. 2007 and P. Mena Valenzuela in litt. 2007).
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It inhabits wet foothill forests at 30-1,525 m^16,18,19. It seems to be dependent on continuous primary forest, but also uses adjacent secondary areas⁶. Reports and information from local people suggest that it sometimes associates with collared peccaries Tayassu tajacu, and with mixed-species bird flocks attending army ant swarms^4,6. It forages for arthropods from the ground by scouring foliage, stems and tree-trunks, or catching prey disturbed by army ants^4,6. Two recently documented nesting attempts provided the first information on its nesting biology: one took place in March-April and the other in May, and both nests were located c.5 m above ground in understorey trees in primary forest¹². The clutch size appears to be small and may be only a single egg¹². A wide range of invertebrates (particularly grasshoppers) and vertebrates (mainly small frogs) were fed to the nestling¹². Extensive visual and auditory transect-mapping samples¹⁶ (1997-2006) in Esmeraldas, covering an altitudinal range of 5-1,800 m confirmed that the species occurs at extremely low densities of 0.125-0.25 individuals/km², or less, in most of its remaining Ecuadorian range; concordant with a radio-tagged adult that was found to have a home range of 5 km^{2 13}.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

It inhabits wet foothill forests at 30-1,525 m^16,18,19. It seems to be dependent on continuous primary forest, but also uses adjacent secondary areas⁶. Reports and information from local people suggest that it sometimes associates with collared peccaries Tayassu tajacu, and with mixed-species bird flocks attending army ant swarms^4,6. It forages for arthropods from the ground by scouring foliage, stems and tree-trunks, or catching prey disturbed by army ants^4,6. Two recently documented nesting attempts provided the first information on its nesting biology: one took place in March-April and the other in May, and both nests were located c.5 m above ground in understorey trees in primary forest¹². The clutch size appears to be small and may be only a single egg¹². A wide range of invertebrates (particularly grasshoppers) and vertebrates (mainly small frogs) were fed to the nestling¹². Extensive visual and auditory transect-mapping samples¹⁶ (1997-2006) in Esmeraldas, covering an altitudinal range of 5-1,800 m confirmed that the species occurs at extremely low densities of 0.125-0.25 individuals/km², or less, in most of its remaining Ecuadorian range; concordant with a radio-tagged adult that was found to have a home range of 5 km^{2 13}.

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The Chocó region has long been a source of timber, but logging has intensified since the mid-1970s¹¹. Deforestation is particularly rapid in Ecuador, Nariño, and along the Cali-Buenaventura and other roads^7,8,9. By 1996, in western Ecuador the remnant cover of evergreen lowland and premontane forests was only 18% and 40% respectively²⁴. In the late 1990s, primary forests in Nariño and within 60 km of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, were selectively logged, and then converted to oil palm plantations at a rapid rate^2,16,23. Between 1998 and 2007 the area planted with African palms rose from only 3 km²to 225 km² (+900% per year)²² with a further 275-315 km² due to be converted in the near future²³. In Esmeraldas, annual deforestation rates in the lowlands (<300 m) were 3.8% and accumulated loss of primary forest >38% during the last decade²². During the same period, the cover of primary premontane forest (300-1300 m) was reduced by 7%²². Infrastructural improvement in the region, particularly the rapid expansion of the road network, is resulting in increased logging, small-scale agriculture, gold mining, and hunting for food^7,8,10,11, which is already affecting some key protected areas^16,17,18. There is intensive agricultural development, especially coca and banana plantations, at lower altitudes, and cattle-farming^{3,7,9,11,16,21}. New legislation and the transfer of land-rights to local communities has been exploited by large businesses, for whom it has become cheap and easy to buy land^2,9.

Major Threat(s):

The Chocó region has long been a source of timber, but logging has intensified since the mid-1970s¹¹. Deforestation is particularly rapid in Ecuador, Nariño, and along the Cali-Buenaventura and other roads^7,8,9. By 1996, in western Ecuador the remnant cover of evergreen lowland and premontane forests was only 18% and 40% respectively²⁴. In the late 1990s, primary forests in Nariño and within 60 km of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, were selectively logged, and then converted to oil palm plantations at a rapid rate^2,16,23. Between 1998 and 2007 the area planted with African palms rose from only 3 km²to 225 km² (+900% per year)²² with a further 275-315 km² due to be converted in the near future²³. In Esmeraldas, annual deforestation rates in the lowlands (<300 m) were 3.8% and accumulated loss of primary forest >38% during the last decade²². During the same period, the cover of primary premontane forest (300-1300 m) was reduced by 7%²². Infrastructural improvement in the region, particularly the rapid expansion of the road network, is resulting in increased logging, small-scale agriculture, gold mining, and hunting for food^7,8,10,11, which is already affecting some key protected areas^16,17,18. There is intensive agricultural development, especially coca and banana plantations, at lower altitudes, and cattle-farming^{3,7,9,11,16,21}. New legislation and the transfer of land-rights to local communities has been exploited by large businesses, for whom it has become cheap and easy to buy land^2,9.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Conservation actions underway: It is known from several protected areas, including Los Farallones de Cali and Munchique National Parks and El Pangan Nature Reserve (Colombia), Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Awacachi Biological Corridor, Protective Forest Los Cedros, Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, and Jatun Sacha Bilsa Biological Reserve (Ecuador)^1,4,6,10,18. Conservation actions proposed: Survey foothill-forests within its range⁹. Study its ecology⁶. Develop a network of effectively protected reserves in its foothill range⁶. Designate the Awá Reserve, Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Awacachi Corridor, Gran Reserva Chachi, and Canandé Reserve, including the Río Santiago, Cayapas, Ónzole, and Hoja Blanca drainages, as a biosphere reserve^2,16. Sustainably manage the buffer zone to the Awá Ethnic Reserve and Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve ^2,16. Implement population monitoring programs¹⁷. Consolidate protection of the Mache-Chindul and Cotacachi-Cayapas ecological reserves through law enforcement against illegal logging, hunting, and colonization inside the reserves and sustainable management projects in their buffer zones¹⁷.

Conservation Actions:

Conservation actions underway:

It is known from several protected areas, including Los Farallones de Cali and Munchique National Parks and El Pangan Nature Reserve (Colombia), Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Awacachi Biological Corridor, Protective Forest Los Cedros, Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, and Jatun Sacha Bilsa Biological Reserve (Ecuador)^1,4,6,10,18.

Conservation actions proposed:

Survey foothill-forests within its range⁹. Study its ecology⁶. Develop a network of effectively protected reserves in its foothill range⁶. Designate the Awá Reserve, Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Awacachi Corridor, Gran Reserva Chachi, and Canandé Reserve, including the Río Santiago, Cayapas, Ónzole, and Hoja Blanca drainages, as a biosphere reserve^2,16. Sustainably manage the buffer zone to the Awá Ethnic Reserve and Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve ^2,16. Implement population monitoring programs¹⁷. Consolidate protection of the Mache-Chindul and Cotacachi-Cayapas ecological reserves through law enforcement against illegal logging, hunting, and colonization inside the reserves and sustainable management projects in their buffer zones¹⁷.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2009. Neomorphus radiolosus. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 November 2009.
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