Jamaican becard

The Jamaican becard (Pachyramphus niger) is a species of bird in the family Tityridae. Its genus, Pachyramphus, has traditionally been placed in Cotingidae or Tyrannidae, but evidence strongly suggest it is better placed in Tityridae.^[2]

Jamaican becard
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Tityridae
Genus:	Pachyramphus
Species:	P. niger
Binomial name
Pachyramphus niger (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
Synonyms
Platypsaris niger

Taxonomy

The Jamaican becard was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the shrikes in the genus Lanius and coined the binomial name Lanius niger.^[3][4] Gmelin based his description on the "black shrike" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had received two specimens from Jamaica.^[5] The Jamaican becard is now one of 17 becards placed in the genus Pachyramphus that was introduced in 1839 by George Gray.^[6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.^[6]

Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to Jamaica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.