The green barbet (Cryptolybia olivacea) is a species of bird in the Lybiidae family (African barbets). It is found in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa.[1] It occurs in forests from sea level to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft).[2] Its isolated populations are vulnerable to forest clearing.[3]
They have dull ginger-olive plumage, but are yellower on the wings, and paler below. The head and chin are dark brown in the nominate race, and the eyes vary from dull red to orange. The bill is black and the feet blackish. Juveniles are duller, with brown eyes.[4]
They frequent fruiting branches in the subcanopy, and vary from solitary to social during foraging and roosting.[4] It is a sedentary species which is not known to undertake any movements.[3] It may be particularly dependent on the fruit of wild figs. It breeds in cavities in tree trunks during midsummer.[3]
1897 illustration of a pair of Woodward's barbets, by J.G. Keulemans.
The number of races (or species) is not generally agreed upon, and the conservation status of the taxa depends critically on their taxonomic evaluation.[3] Race C. o. hylophona is sometimes merged with woodwardi in a taxon with tentative species status,[3] the so-called Woodward's barbet. These birds have the ear coverts and hind brow marked in yellow, as opposed to the dusky-headed populations. The type was obtained from oNgoye Forest in South Africa, and named for its discoverers, the Woodward brothers. C. o. belcheri, which lacks the yellow ear coverts,[5] is endemic to two isolated inselbergs, and may constitute a third species.[3]
^ ab"Green Barbet". Preliminary Map. Tanzania Bird Atlas. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
^"Biodiversity studies in Kilwa and Lindi Districts"(PDF). UTUMI Biodiversity Surveys (Ref. No. 104.Tan.1.MRS.11). Tanzania: DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 77 pages. December 2002. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
