The opal-rumped tanager (Tangara velia) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest of South America. The population of the Atlantic Forest has a far paler chest than the other populations, and has often been considered a separate species as the silvery-breasted tanager (Tangara cyanomelas). Today most authorities treat it as a subspecies of the opal-rumped tanager.
In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the opal-rumped tanager in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "Red-belly'd Blue-bird" ". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen owned by the Duke of Richmond that had been collected in Suriname.[2] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the opal-rumped tanager with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla velia and cited Edwards' work.[3] Linnaeus provided no explanation for the specific epithet; it is perhaps a misprint for the Ancient Greek elea, a small bird mentioned by Aristotle.[4] The bay-headed tanager is now placed in the genus Tangara that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.[5][6] The type locality is Suriname.[7]
Four subspecies are recognised:[6]
The opal-rumped tanager (Tangara velia) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest of South America. The population of the Atlantic Forest has a far paler chest than the other populations, and has often been considered a separate species as the silvery-breasted tanager (Tangara cyanomelas). Today most authorities treat it as a subspecies of the opal-rumped tanager.
Silvery-breasted tanager (Tangara velia cyanomelas)
