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Crossley's vanga;
	; ;
; Conservation status;
	; ; ; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1); ;
; Scientific classification ;
Kingdom:	; Animalia;
Phylum:	; Chordata;
Class:	; Aves;
Order:	; Passeriformes;
Family:	; Vangidae;
Genus:	; Mystacornis; Sharpe, 1870;
Species:;	; M. crossleyi;
; Binomial name;
	; Mystacornis crossleyi; (Grandidier, 1870);

Crossley's vanga (Mystacornis crossleyi), also known as Crossley's babbler-vanga, Crossley's babbler, or Madagascar groundjumper, is a bird species in the family Vangidae.

Taxonomy

The bird is in the monotypic genus Mystacornis. The species is an example of convergent evolution: its bill and body shape adapted to its habit of looking for insect prey in the leaf litter, eventually becoming so similar to that of ground-babblers that early naturalists initially classified the Crossley's vanga into what was then known as the Timaliidae family (the babbler family).^{[citation needed]}

Description

Details of morphology

Crossley's vanga is a small babbler-like bird, 15 cm long and weighing around 25 g. Its most distinctive feature is the olive-grey bill, which is disproportionately long and slightly hooked at the end. The plumage of the male is olive green on the crown, back, wings, tail and flanks, a grey belly, black throat and face, with a white submoustachial stripe and grey stripe above the eye. The legs are grey and the iris black. The female is similar but with a white throat and belly.

Behaviour

Breeding

The breeding season for this species is from August to November. The male builds a shallow cup nest of twigs and rootlets in a tree or other vegetation around 1.5 m off the ground. Two to three eggs are laid and incubated by both sexes.

Feeding

It forages singly or in pairs. It is a terrestrial bird that feeds on the ground on spiders, cockroaches, earwigs, true bugs, grasshoppers and ants. It rarely flies but instead walks and runs and probing its bill into leaf-litter, mosses, and soil.

Distribution and habitat

Crossley's vanga is endemic to Madagascar. It is distributed in the east of Madagascar in broadleaf forest, from sea level up to 1800 m.

References

^ BirdLife International. 2016. Mystacornis crossleyi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22716772A94510337. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22716772A94510337.en. Downloaded on 31 July 2018.

Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70–291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

External links

Image at ADW

This Vangidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] BirdLife International. 2016. Mystacornis crossleyi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22716772A94510337. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22716772A94510337.en. Downloaded on 31 July 2018.

v t e Vangas (order: Passeriformes · family: Vangidae)
Genus	Species
Calicalicus	Red-tailed vanga Red-shouldered vanga
Schetba	Rufous vanga
Vanga	Hook-billed vanga
Xenopirostris	Lafresnaye's vanga Van Dam's vanga Pollen's vanga
Falculea	Sickle-billed vanga
Artamella	White-headed vanga
Leptopterus	Chabert vanga
Cyanolanius	Blue vanga (including Comoro blue vanga)
Oriolia	Bernier's vanga
Euryceros	Helmet vanga
Tylas	Tylas vanga
Hypositta	Nuthatch vanga (or coral-billed nuthatch-vanga)
Newtonia	Dark newtonia Common newtonia Archbold's newtonia Red-tailed newtonia
Mystacornis	Crossley's vanga
Pseudobias	Ward's flycatcher

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