Nombre en español: Dacnis Pechiblanca

Nombre en inglés: White-bellied Dacnis

Nombre científico: Dacnis albiventris

Familia: Thraupidae

El dacnis ventriblanco (en Ecuador) (Dacnis albiventris), también denominado dacnis pechiblanca (en Colombia), dacnis de vientre blanco (en Perú) o mielero vientre blanco (en Venezuela),​ es una especie de ave paseriforme de la familia Thraupidae, perteneciente al género Dacnis. Es nativo de América del Sur, en el occidente de la cuenca amazónica.

Distribución y hábitat

Se distribuye en el oeste de la cuenca amazónica, en el sureste de Colombia, sur de Venezuela, este de Ecuador, noreste de Perú, oeste y localmente en varios puntos de la de la Amazonia brasileña.​

Esta especie es considerada inexplicablemente rara y local en sus hábitat naturales: el dosel y los bordes de selvas húmedas de tierras bajas, por debajo de los 400 m de altitud.​

Sistemática

Descripción original

La especie D. albiventris fue descrita por primera vez por el zoólogo británico Philip Lutley Sclater en 1852 bajo el nombre científico Pipraeidea albiventris; su localidad tipo es: «Bogotá».​

Etimología

El nombre genérico femenino Dacnis deriva de la palabra griega «daknis», tipo de ave de Egipto, no identificada, mencionada por Hesiquio y por el gramático Sexto Pompeyo Festo; y el nombre de la especie «albiventris» se compone de las palabras del latín «albus»: blanco, y «ventris, venter»: vientre.​

Taxonomía

Los amplios estudios filogenéticos recientes demuestran que la presente especie es pariente próxima de Dacnis nigripes.​

En el pasado fue colocada en un género monotípico Hemidacnis. Es monotípica.

White-bellied dacnis

The white-bellied dacnis (Dacnis albiventris) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Despite its relatively broad, but highly discontinuous range, White-bellied Dacnis is one of the most poorly known and relatively infrequently seen bird species in South America. Its main range is in western Amazonia, where it occurs in southwest Venezuela south and west to northeast Peru, but there are also a handful of records in central and east Amazonian Brazil, both north and south of the Amazon. It has been recorded in both seasonally flooded and terra firme forests, and is usually observed within mixed-species canopy flocks. Seen well, males are much darker blue than those of any other species of Dacnis, with a black mask and yellow irides, black markings on the wings, and a large white belly and ventral region. Females are less distinctive, being greenish above, with a grayish-white throat and greenish-yellow underparts.

Its scientific name, Dacnis albiventris, has Greek and Latin origins. The genus name Dacnis comes from the Greek word «Daknis», which is an unspecified type of bird from Egypt (Jobling 2010). The specific epithet of albiventris comes from Latin word albus meaning «white», and ventris meaning «venter», or belly (Jobling 2010). In Spanish, the common name is Dacnis Ventriblanco (Hilty 2011, de Juana et al. 2012); in Portuguese it is Saí-de-Barriga-Branca (Sick 1993, CBRO 2010). Collectively, the scientific and common names of this species refers to the male’s distinctive white belly.

Field Identification

White-bellied Dacnis (Dacnis albiventris) a small lowland tanager with a short tail and a conical black bill which is among the shortest in the genus (Hilty and Brown 1986). Like most Dacnis, males are striking and females are dull green. Males are primarily cobalt blue, with a black mask, yellow iris, and white belly. Females are yellowish olive above and slightly brighter below.

Similar Species

Males of the dichromatic White-bellied Dacnis usually are easily distinguished from other species of Dacnis by the combination of the black mask not extending past the auriculars and by being darker blue. It is probably most similar to Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata) in that both species are blue and black above, white below, and have bright yellow iridies; White-bellied Dacnis however is darker blue instead of turquoise, has a blue mantle instead of black, and the black on the face does not extend posterior to the auriculars (Ridgely and Tudor 1989). The male is perhaps more easily confused with certain species of Tangara, such as Turquoise Tanager (Tangara mexicana) and Masked Tanager (Tangara nigrocincta), as well as with Hooded Tanager (Nemosia pileata). White-bellied Dacnis and Turquoise Tanager are both primarily cobalt blue anteriorly, however Turquoise Tanager does not have a black mask and yellow irides; instead it has an all blue face, black eyes, a black nape, and the center of the belly is yellow (Hilty and Brown 1986, Ridgely and Tudor 1989, Hilty 2011). White-bellied Dacnis and Masked Tanager are both primarily dark blue and black above, and white or pale colored below, however, the White-bellied Dacnis is darker blue on its body, the black mask extends to the auriculars, and has a blue nape and mantle, whereas in Masked Tanager the black mask encompasses the lores and just around the eyes, and the upper breast and mantle are black (Clements and Shany 2001, Hilty 2011). Both White-bellied Dacnis and Hooded Tanager have black on their face, yellow iridies, and are darker above; however, in Hooded Tanager, the black extends onto the crown, the upperparts are gray not blue, with a white forecrown, and Hooded Tanagers are more extensively white below (Hilty and Brown 1986, Hilty 2011). Female White-bellied Dacnis are primarily dull green, and much less striking than the adult male. They are most likely to be confused with female Black-faced Dacnis and Yellow-bellied Dacnis (Dacnis flaviventer). White-bellied Dacnis female is more yellow, and less dull green than either of these species, and has a darker olive iris rather than yellow (Ridgely and Tudor 1989, Hilty 2011). They perhaps are best differentiated by their accompanying male.

Fuentes: Wikipedia/eBird/xeno-canto/Birds of the world