Order
Trogoniformes
Family
Trogonidae
Genus
Pharomachrus
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Resplendent Quetzal Pharomachrus mocinno

Ashley A. Dayer
Version: 1.0 — Published July 30, 2010

Diet and Foraging

Diet

The Resplendent Quetzal primarily is frugivorous, although it occasionally take insects or lizards, especially to feed young. The Resplendent Quetzal forages in the midstory of the forest (Stotz et al. 1996). Wheelwright (1983) found the costaricensis subspecies in Monteverde, Costa Rica feeds on fruits of 41-43 plant species in 17 families. Nearly half of these species were part of the Lauraceae family. The mocinno subspecies in Chiapas, Mexico forages  on 32 species of plants (Solorzano et al. 2000). Avila et al. (1996) and Wheelwright (1983) found over half of the total number of fruit items in the quetzal's diet were from Lauraceae.

Foraging Behavior

Recommended Citation

Dayer, A. A. (2010). Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.resque1.01