| Velvet asity | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Male | |
_female_..._(44121549365).jpg)
| |
| Female | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Philepittidae |
| Genus: | Philepitta |
| Species: | P. castanea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Philepitta castanea (Müller, 1776)
| |
The velvet asity (Philepitta castanea) is a species of bird in the family Philepittidae. It is endemic to Madagascar.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests .
Male P. castanea have yellow tips to its feathers when newly molted, but these wear off, leaving the bird all black; at the same time, a green wattle grows above the eye. The female is greenish.[2]
Velvet asities eat berries and other fruit in undergrowth, including gastonia duplicata.[3] They build hanging nests with a little roof over the entrance. They tend to be sedentary.[4]
- ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Philepitta castanea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22698763A130195996. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698763A130195996.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "asity | bird". Retrieved 2016-08-04.
- ^ Bashaw, Thaddeus. "The Role of Frugivorous Birds as Seed Dispersers: Feeding Selection and Preference of Madagascar’s Avian Frugivores in Analamazaotra Forest." (2022).
- ^ Barbon, Hannah; Berthoud, Jean-Louis; Woog, Friederike; Musa, Sandrine (2023-11-10). "Haemosporidian parasite infections of Malagasy Philepittidae and Nectariniidae are driven by phylogeny rather than ecology". Parasitology. 150 (14): 1316–1329. doi:10.1017/s0031182023001075. ISSN 0031-1820.