Azure-shouldered Tanager

Open encyclopedia reference

The azure-shouldered tanager (Thraupis cyanoptera) is a species of bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. Described by the French zoologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817, it is only found in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, from southeastern Bahia, eastern Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo south to northern Rio Grande do Sul. It inhabits humid montane forests, open woodlands, secondary growth, and forest edges and can be found at elevations of up to 1,600 m (5,200 ft), but usually stays below 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The species feeds on fruit, flowers, and leaves. Its habit of eating leaves is an unusual aspect of its diet. Foraging takes place in mixed-species or single species flocks of as many as 15–20 birds. Like other tanagers in southeastern Brazil, the azure-shouldered tanager's breeding season begins after the end of the dry season. Nests are generally built deep inside tangles of epiphytic bromeliads in trees. Eggs are laid in clutches of two and may be either pale blue with some very dark purple spots or white with evenly spread-out small brown splotches.

Wikipedia contributors, Azure-shouldered tanager; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:59:51.953502+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Thraupis cyanoptera (Vieillot, 1817)

Name authority

(Vieillot, 1817)

Common name

Azure-shouldered Tanager

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Thraupidae

Genus

Thraupis

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderPasseriformes
10. familyThraupidae
11. genusThraupis F. Boie, 1826
12. speciesThraupis cyanoptera (Vieillot, 1817)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Thraupis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 291 records assigned to Thraupidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=563424 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:56LM5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.