| Jaçanas | |
|---|---|
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| Comb-crested Jaçana (Irediparra gallinacea) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Jacanidae Stejneger, 1885 |
| Genera | |
The jaçanas (sometimes referred to as Jesus birds or lily trotters) are a group of tropical waders in the family Jacanidae. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone. See Etymology below for pronunciation.
Eight species of jaçana are known from six genera. The fossil record of this family is restricted to a recent fossil of the Wattled Jaçana from Brazil and an Pliocene fossil of an extinct species, Jacana farrandi, from Florida.[1] A fossil from Miocene rocks in the Czech Republic was assigned to this family,[2] but more recent analysis disputes the placement and moves the species to the Coraciidae.[3]
They are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. They have sharp bills and rounded wings, and many species also have wattles on their foreheads.[4]
The females are larger than the males; the latter, as in some other wader families like the phalaropes, take responsibility for incubation, and some species (notably the Northern Jaçana) are polyandrous.[5] However, adults of both sexes look identical, as with most shorebirds. They construct relatively flimsy nests on floating vegetation, and lay eggs with dark irregular lines on their shells, providing camouflage amongst water weeds.[4]
Their diet consists of insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water’s surface.
Most species are sedentary, but the Pheasant-tailed Jaçana migrates from the north of its range into peninsular India and southeast Asia.
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Etymology and Pronunciation [link]
Jacana is Linnæus' scientific Latin spelling of the Brazilian Portuguese jaçanã. That is from a Tupi name of the bird, ñaha'nã.[6]
The Portuguese word is pronounced approximately [ʒasaˈnã]. As in façade, Provençal, and araçari, the Ç is meant to be pronounced as an S. US dictionaries give various pronunciations: /ˌʒɑːsəˈnɑː/ ZHAH-sə-NAH,[7][8] /ˌdʒɑːsəˈnɑː/ JAH-sə-NAH,[8] as well as the anglicised /dʒəˈkɑːnə/ jə-KAH-nə,[9] which is the only pronunciation in an Australian dictionary.[10] A British dictionary gives /ˈdʒækənə/ JAK-ə-nə for the spelling "jacana" and /ʒæsəˈnɑː/ zhas-ə-NAH for "jaçana".[11]
Species [link]
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FAMILY: JACANIDAE
- Genus: Microparra
- Lesser Jacana - Microparra capensis
- Genus: Actophilornis
- African Jacana - Actophilornis africana
- Madagascar Jacana - Actophilornis albinucha
- Genus: Irediparra
- Comb-crested Jacana - Irediparra gallinacea
- Genus: Hydrophasianus
- Pheasant-tailed Jacana - Hydrophasianus chirurgus
- Genus: Metopidius
- Bronze-winged Jacana - Metopidius indicus
- Genus: Jacana
- Northern Jacana - Jacana spinosa
- Wattled Jacana - Jacana jacana
References [link]
- ^ Olson, Storrs, (1976). "A jacana from the Pliocene of Florida (Aves: Jacanidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 89 (19): 259–264. https://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/bitstream/10088/1730/1/Jacana_farrandi.pdf.
- ^ Mlíkovský, Jiří (1999). "A new jacana (Aves: Jacanidae) from the Early Miocene of the Czech Republic". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science 328 (2): 121–123. DOI:10.1016/S1251-8050(99)80007-X.
- ^ Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (1999). "Systematic position of Nupharanassa bohemica Mlíkovsky, 1999". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science 329 (2): 149–152. DOI:10.1016/S1251-8050(99)80217-1.
- ^ a b Harrison, Colin J.O. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph. ed. Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. p. 108. ISBN 1-85391-186-0.
- ^ Jenni, Donald A.; Gerald Collier (1972). "Polyandry in the American Jaçana (Jacana spinosa)". The Auk 89 (4): 743–765.
- ^ Ferreira, A. B. H. (1986). Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (Second ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. p. 978.
- ^ "American Heritage Dictionary". 2009. https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jacana. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ a b "dictionary.com Unabridged. Based on the Random House Dictionary". 2009. https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jacana. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ "jacana - definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jacana. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ "The Macquarie Dictionary Online". Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd.. 2009. https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au. Retrieved 2009-08-13.. Subscription required.
- ^ The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press. 1993.
External links [link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jacanidae |
- Jacana videos on the Internet Bird Collection
https://wn.com/Jacana
Jacana (genus)
Jacana is the genus comprising the two jacanas of the Americas: the northern jacana, Jacana spinosa, and the wattled jacana, Jacana jacana.
These birds are very similar to each other: about 22 cm (8.7 in) long, with long necks and fairly long yellow bills. Adults are black and chestnut-brown, with pale yellow-green flight feathers that contrast conspicuously when a bird flies. Their legs are long and grayish, and as in all jacanas, their toes are extremely long, for walking on aquatic vegetation such as lily pads. They have frontal shields (like those of coots) and wattles; differences in these are the most noticeable differences between the species. Juveniles are brown above and white below, with a buff-white stripe above the eye and a dark stripe behind it. The dark colors are somewhat darker on the juvenile wattled jacana than on the northern.
Together the species occur in marshes in the American tropics and subtropics. The northern jacana's range meets that of the wattled jacana in western Panama.
Pouteria multiflora
Pouteria multiflora is a plant in the Sapotaceae family of the Ericales order. Its English common name is bullytree. Its Spanish common names include jácana,ácana, acana, hacana, or jacana. It is native to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The plant is common in the Toro Negro State Forest.
It can grow from 40–90 feet high and from 2–3 feet in diameter and is found throughout tropical America. It yields very good timber that can be used for mill rollers, frames, furniture, and house building. Acana wood is light colored, fine and straight grained, hard, very heavy, strong, durable, and can be polished to shine. The pores are small and arranged in radial rows. Pith rays narrow and indistinct.
A similar definition of the Acana tree is given by Constantino Suarez in his Diccionario de voces Cubanas as; wild indigenous tree with a straight trunk that grows to 10 meters with coriaceous rigid oval leaves which produces a nutritious fruit smaller than the zapote, and whose wood is valued in Cuba for rustic houses and ship building because of the wood's durability and hardness, qualities enhanced by its sonority, weight, and beautiful reddish color.
