home   about   search

biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Stactolaema olivacea (Green barbet) 

Groenhoutkapper [Afrikaans]; Barbican olivâtre [French]; Olivbartvogel [German]; Barbaças-verde [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Piciformes > Family: Lybiidae

Stactolaema olivacea (Green barbet)  

Green barbet, Ongoye forest. [photo Peter Steyn ©]

 

The Green barbet occurs in isolated populations in Africa, including one in southern Africa in the Ongoye forest, KwaZulu-Natal. Due its extremely localized distribition, it is listed as Threatened in southern Africa. Its diet is almost exclusively made up of fruit, especially figs, occasionally eating insects. Both sexes excavate the nest, which is usually a small chamber dug into a dead, decaying upright tree trunk. With one breeding pair, the female produced five eggs which were incubated by both sexes for 18 days. The chicks stayed stayed in the nest for 29 days.

Distribution and habitat

Occurs in a series of isolated populations from Tanzania to South Africa, where it can be only be found in the Ongoye Forest, KwaZulu-Natal. This area consists mostly of coastal scarp forest with a large amount of fig (Ficus) trees.

Call

 
   

Recorded by T. Harris, Ngoye Forest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 1980, [© Transvaal Museum]

 

Food 

It's diet is almost exclusively made up of fruit, especially figs, occasionally eating insects. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

Breeding

  • Both sexes excavate the nest, which is usually a small chamber dug into a dead upright tree trunk.
  • Egg-laying season is from November-January.
  • In one study, the female produced five eggs which were incubated by both sexes for 18 days.
  • The chicks, who where fed regularly by both parents. They stayed in the nest for 29 days, after which they dispersed.

Threats

Vulnerable, due its isolated populations in Africa. In South Africa, it occurs only in the Ongoye forest, where it is actually quite common. Nevertheless, protection of this forest's fruit trees is crucial to the survival of this species.

References

  • Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.