Artas – Wikipedia

Artam Olderlot, 1816 It is a genre of passerine birds of the Artemidae family ^[first] .

The scientific name of the genre, Artam , derives from the Greek word ARTAMOS ( Artamos ), “butcher”, in reference to their alleged affinity with having them. The species ascribed to the genre are generally known as collective common name of Artami O Rondini groveccecce .

Numerous species of medium-small dimensions are ascribed to the genre, ranging from 12 cm in length of the smaller arter to 21 of the largest arthole, with most of the species measuring 17–20 cm.

The articles present an appearance that vaguely recalls swallows regarding the body and having them as regards the head: while the body is small but massive and aerodynamic, with long pointed wings, short legs and tail also rather short (more of the wings when the animal is laid) and square, the head is instead massive and square, slightly flattened and equipped with a conical beak, wide, pointed and slightly curved downwards, with the presence of vibrisse that they start from the nostrils.

The livery is generally sober, dominated by the white-black dichotomy, or with more or less extensive gray or brown areas: often the plumage tends to darken between beak and eyes, forming a mask. Sexual dimorphism is negligible.

The genre are ascribed especially by daytime and generally gregarious habits, which above all at night tend to join the branches by stirring to preserve the heat. Excellent flyers, the articles are among the few passerines to by dinging and knowing how to do the “Holy Spirit”.

The diet of these birds is mainly insectivora, consuming in small animals that are captured in the beaten with great skill: not infrequently, however, they integrate it with nectar, while it is rarer that they feed on berries, fruit or seeds.

Reproduction generally takes place during the summer months, both in the southern and boreal hemisphere, while the populations that live on the horse of the equator reproduce during the dry season: the articles are monogamous birds, with the two sexes that collaborate (sometimes with The cooperation of other conspecifics) in the construction of the cup nest positioning it at a short height between the bushes and the care of the offspring.

Most of the articles are of Australian origin, with some species widespread also in Tasmania: the genre is however widespread also in New Guinea (with a species, the artemal Fagianera, widespread by both sides of the Strait of Torres, as well as a Timor and in the Circonvicine islands) and, with various endemisms, in most of the probe islands and in part of Melania (Bismarck Islands, Vanuatu, Nuova Caledonia). The two extremes in the area occupied by the genre are the Artemo Cenerino (present in most of the South-East Asian from Gujarat ad Hainan to the south to the Isto of Kra) and the artho of the Figi, a more eastern endemic species of the homonymous archipelago.

These birds prefer open areas, possibly not too dry, with the presence of tree -lined spots.

The genre (the only one of their subfamille) 11 species are ascribed ^[first] :

Once unique ascribed to the Artemidae family, following the analysis of the DNA, an affinity of these birds emerged with Peltops and I craccticide eats taxa equidistants evolved by a common ancestor, thus leading to the pairing of the three Cladi with the rank of subfamille in the “older” of the three families, as usual in systematic use ^[first] .