a s t r ik in g n e w s p e c ie s o strongfstrong b a r b e t (c a p it o.pdfVIP

The Auk 117(3):569–577, 2000 A STRIKING NEW SPECIES OF BARBET (CAPITONINAE: CAPITO) FROM THE EASTERN ANDES OF PERU JOHN P. O’NEILL,1,5 DANIEL F. LANE,1 ANDREW W. KRATTER,2 ANGELO P. CAPPARELLA,3 AND CECILIA FOX JOO4 1Museum of Natural Science, 119 Foster Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA; 2Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA; 3Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois 61790, USA; and 4Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Casilla 14-0434, Lima 14, Peru ABSTRACT .—In 1996, an expedition of personnel from the Louisiana State University Mu- seum of Natural Science and the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional May- or de San Marcos made a trail from the east bank of the upper Rı´o Cushabatay, departamento Ucayali, Peru, northeast to the top of a 1,538-m peak at 705 S, 7539 W. The peak supports cloud forest from 1,200 m to the summit, and this ‘‘island’’ of habitat may be among the most isolated areas of cloud forest in South America. Among the depauperate cloud-forest avifauna we discovered a striking new species of Capito barbet, which apparently is the only member of the genus restricted to this habitat. Received 22 December 1999, accepted 17 March 2000. BARBETS OF THE GENUS Capito are widely dis- isolated cloud forest in Peru, if not in all of tributed in the lowlands of northern South South America. America, reaching their greatest diversity in On 15 July, Lane and Manuel Sa´nchez S. col- the Choco´ rainforest of western Colombia and lected four individuals of a species