{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}}
{{Speciesbox | name = Green-backed becard | image = Pachyramphus viridis viridis.jpg | image_caption = Male | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN1>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=Green-backed Becard ''Pachyramphus viridis'' |volume=2024 |article-number=e.T103677078A264382807 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T103677078A264382807.en |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref> | status2 = LC | status2_system = IUCN3.1 | status2_ref = <ref name=IUCN2>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=Green-cheeked Becard ''Pachyramphus griseigularis'' |volume=2024 |article-number=e.T103677088A264382194 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T103677088A264382194.en |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref> | genus = Pachyramphus | species = viridis | authority = (Vieillot, 1816) | synonyms = | range_map = Pachyramphus viridis map 2.svg | range_map_caption = Range }}
The '''green-backed becard''' ('''''Pachyramphus viridis''''') is a species of passerine bird in the family Tityridae, the tityras, becards, and allies. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The green-backed becard includes the yellow-cheeked becard as a subspecies.
==Taxonomy== The green-backed becard was formally described in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot under the binomial name ''Tityra viridis''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1816 | title=Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc. | edition=Nouvelle édition | volume=3 | location=Paris | publisher=Deterville |page=348 | language=French | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/21109486 }}</ref> He based his account on the "Caracterizados verde y corona negra" from Paraguay that had been described in 1805 by the Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara in his ''Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paragüay y Rio de la Plata''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Azara | first=Félix de | author-link=Félix de Azara | year=1805 | title=Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paragüay y Rio de la Plata | volume=2 | language=Spanish | location=Madrid | publisher=Imprenta de la Hija de Ibarra | pages=184-185, No. CCX | url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4QkAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184 }}</ref><ref name=snow>{{ cite book | last=Snow | first=D.W. | author-link=David Snow (ornithologist) | editor-last=Traylor | editor-first=Melvin A. Jr | editor-link=Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=8 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=229 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14501006 }}</ref> The specific epithet ''viridis'' is Latin meaning "green".<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=viridis | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=viridis | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=2 May 2026 }}</ref> The green-backed becard is now one of 17 species placed in the genus ''Pachyramphus'' that was introduced in 1839 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray.<ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=2 May 2026 }}</ref>
The genus has variously been assigned to the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae,<ref name=snow/> and the cotinga family Cotingidae.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Hellmayr | first=Carl Eduard | author-link=Carl Eduard Hellmayr | year=1929 | title=Catalogue of Birds of the Americas and the Adjacent Islands in Field Museum of Natural History | series=Field Museum Natural History Publication 266. Zoological Series. Volume 13 | volume=6: Oxyruncidae, Plpridae, Cotingidae, Rupicolidae, Phytotomidae | pages=92, 164 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2750717 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Prum | first1=R.O. | last2=Rice | first2=N.H. | last3=Mobley | first3=J.A. | last4=Dimmick | first4=W.W. | date=2000 | title=A preliminary phylogenetic hypothesis for the Cotingas (Cotingidae) based on mitochondrial DNA | journal=The Auk | volume=117 | issue=1 | pages=236-241 | doi=10.1093/auk/117.1.236 | url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=23519&context=auk }}</ref> Several early twenty-first century studies confirmed the placement of ''Pachyramphus'' in Tityridae and taxonomic systems made the reassignment.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Banks | first2=R.C. | last3=Barker | first3=F.K. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Kratter | first6=A.W. | last7=Lovette | first7=I.J. | last8=Rasmussen | first8=P.C. | last9=Remsen | first9=J.V. | last10=Rising | first10=J.D. | last11=Stotz | first11=D.F. | last12=Winker | first12=K. | date=2011 | title=Fifty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds | journal=The Auk | volume=128 | issue=3 | pages=600-613 | doi=10.1525/auk.2011.128.3.600 | doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=SACClist>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2025</ref>
Four subspecies are recognised:<ref name=avilist/> * ''P. v. griseigularis'' Salvin, O & Godman, FD, 1883 – southeastern Venezuela (eastern Bolívar) and lower Amazonian Brazil * ''P. v. viridis'' (Vieillot, LJP, 1816) – eastern Bolivia to northern Argentina, eastern Uruguay, Paraguay, and eastern Brazil * ''P. v. xanthogenys'' Salvadori, AT & Festa, E, 1898 – east slope of Andes of eastern Ecuador (south to Zamora-Chinchipe) * ''P. v. peruanus'' Hartert, EJO & Goodson, A, 1917 – east slope of Andes of central Peru (Huánuco and Junín)
The taxa ''P. v. xanthogenys'' and ''P. v. peruanus'' have sometimes been treated as a separate species, the yellow-cheeked becard.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Dickinson | editor1-first=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor2-last=Christidis | editor2-first=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | location=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | page=20 | url=https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/278/file/HM4_2.pdf#page=74}}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last1=Ridgely | first1=Robert S. | last2=Tudor | first2=Guy | year=2009 | title=Birds of South America: Passerines | series=Helm Field Guides | location=London | publisher=Christopher Helm | isbn=978-1-408-11342-4 | page=482 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Cotingas, manakins, tityras, becards | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/cotingas/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=3 May 2026 }}</ref> In 2025 AviList lumped the yellow-cheeked becard with the green-backed becard based on the small genetic differences,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Barber | first1=Brian R. | last2=Rice | first2=Nathan H. | date=2007 | title=Systematics and evolution in the Tityrinae (Passeriformes: Tyrannoidea) | journal=The Auk | volume=124 | issue=4 | pages=1317-1329 | doi=10.1093/auk/124.4.1317 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Musher | first1=Lukas J. | last2=Cracraft | first2=Joel | date=2018 | title=Phylogenomics and species delimitation of a complex radiation of Neotropical suboscine birds (''Pachyramphus'') | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=118 | pages=204-221 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Musher | first1=L.J. | last2=Ferreira | first2=M. | last3=Auerbach | first3=A.L. | last4=McKay | first4=J. | last5=Cracraft | first5=J. | date=2019 | title=Why is Amazonia a ‘source’ of biodiversity? Climate-mediated dispersal and synchronous speciation across the Andes in an avian group (Tityrinae) | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume=286 | issue=1900 | article-number=20182343 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.2343 | doi-access=free | pmc=6501692 }}</ref> the similar vocalization and the modest differences in plumage.<ref name=avilist/>
[[File:Pachyramphus xanthogenys Yellow-cheeked Becard; Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil.jpg|thumb|Subspecies ''Pachyramphus xanthogenys'', the yellow-cheeked becard, in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil]] ==Description== The green-backed becard is about {{convert|14.5|to|16|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long; two individuals of the nominate subspecies weighed {{convert|18|and|21|g|oz|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a glossy black crown, whitish lores, and a thin yellowish eye-ring. The lower part of their face and their nape are pale gray. Their upperparts are mostly bright olive with dusky olive flight feathers and tail. Their throat is whitish, their breast bright yellow to olive yellow, and the rest of their underparts grayish white with a buffy tinge. Adult females have a similar pattern to males. However, their crown is dull olive, their lores grayish, and their face grayer. Their upperparts are pale olive and their wing coverts rufous-chestnut. Their breast is a more muted yellow and their underparts overall somewhat more dusky than the male's. The male of subspecies ''P. v. griseigularis'' has a grayish olive face and nape. It has blackish flight feathers with olive edges. The underparts are mostly grayish white with grayer sides and flanks than the nominate's. The male of the subspecies ''P. v. xanthogenys'' has bright yellow cheeks, sides of neck and throat. The male of subspecies ''peruanus'' is very simililar to ''xanthogenys'' but has a slightly brighter yellow face and breast. Both sexes have a dark iris, a pale bluish horn bill, and dusky or grayish legs and feet.<ref name=GBBE-BOW>{{cite web | last1=del Hoyo | first1=J. | last2=Mobley | first2=J.A. | last3=Kirwan | first3=G.M. | last4=Collar | first4=N. | date=2022 | title=Green-backed Becard (''Pachyramphus viridis''), version 1.1 | editor-last=Keeney | editor-first=B.K. | work=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grbbec1.01.1 | access-date=3 May 2026 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The green-backed becard has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies has by far the larger range. It is found in eastern and southern Brazil south from a line roughly southwest from Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte to west-central Mato Grosso. It is a year-round resident from Mato Grosso slightly into eastern Bolivia. It continues south through most of Paraguay into northeastern Argentina as far as Santa Fe and Entre Ríos provinces and northern Uruguay, and loops north from Argentina into central Bolivia. Subspecies ''P. v. griseigularis'' is found in the eastern part of the eastern Venezuelan states of Delta Amacuro and Bolívar and slightly east into western Guyana and also in Brazil along the lower Amazon River from the lower Tapajós River to its mouth. Subspecies ''P. v. xanthogenys'' is along the eastern base of the Andes in Ecuador and northern Peru.<ref name=GBBE-BOW/><ref name=vanPerlo>{{cite book | last =van Perlo | first = Ber| title =A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =2009 | location =New York | pages =288–289 | isbn =978-0-19-530155-7 }}</ref>
The green-backed becard primarily inhabits humid to moist forest in the tropical and lower montane zones, and favors broken and somewhat open areas. It also is found in riparian forest, ''terra firme'' forest, and the ecotone between them. In Brazil it is found from sea level to {{convert|1000|m|ft|round=5|abbr=on}}.<ref name=GBBE-BOW/><ref name=vanPerlo/> It also reaches that elevation in Venezuela.<ref name=Hilty>{{cite book | last =Hilty | first =Steven L. | title =Birds of Venezuela | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =second | date =2003 | location =Princeton NJ | pages =642 | language =English }}</ref>
==Behavior== ===Feeding=== The green-backed becard's diet has not been studied but is believed to be mostly insects with some fruit. It has been observed in pairs accompanying mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages in any level of the forest, typically taking food by reaching from a perch, snatching it after a short flight, or while briefly hovering.<ref name=GBBE-BOW/>
===Breeding=== The green-backed becard's breeding season has not been fully defined but includes October to December in Argentina, October in Paraguay, and September to December in Brazil. Its nest is a messy globe made from dead leaves, plant fibers, and moss and is typically wedged in a branch fork. Nests have been found between about {{convert|4|and|25|m|ft|round=5|abbr=on}} above the ground. The clutch is two to four eggs that are ochre or brownish gray with brown markings. The female alone incubates, for about 18 to 21 days. Fledging occurs about 20 to 30 days after hatch and both parents provision the nestlings.<ref name=GBBE-BOW/>
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Pachyramphus-viridis |species=the green-backed becard}} ===Vocalization=== The green-backed becard's song is starts abruptly and then is an "ascending and slightly decelerating series of 10-15 ''dee-dee---'' notes or series of ascending ''jeh-weeé--'' (6-20x)".<ref name=vanPerlo/> Its usual call is "a fast, thin and nasal ''q-wink, q-wink'' that rises in pitch, and may be repeated up to 12 times".<ref name=GBBE-BOW/>
==Conservation status== The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has separately assessed the green-backed ''sensu stricto'' and green-cheeked becards. Both are assessed as being of Least Concern. Together they have a very large range. Neither taxon's population size is known and both are believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats to either have been identified.<ref name=IUCN1/><ref name=IUCN2/> The species is considered "frequent to uncommon" in Brazil and "uncommon and local" in Venezuela.<ref name=vanPerlo/><ref name=Hilty/> It is found in many national parks and other protected areas.<ref name=GBBE-BOW/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1525378}}
green-backed becard Category:Birds of Brazil Category:Birds of Paraguay green-backed becard Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot