NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Cauca Guan
Penelope perspicax Bangs, 1911
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Cauca Guan at Otun-Quimbaya
Zieger M · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) is a bird in the chachalaca, guan and curassow family, Cracidae. It is a large guan, and like most guans leads a mostly arboreal life in humid forests, where it forages for fruit and leaves. The Cauca guan is endemic to Colombia's Cauca River valley.
In Spanish the bird is called pava caucana.
Wikipedia contributors, Cauca guan; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:55:42.498553+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Penelope perspicax Bangs, 1911
- Name authority
- Bangs, 1911
- Common name
- Cauca Guan
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Penelope
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderGalliformes
- familyCracidae
- subfamilyPenelopinae
- genusPenelope Merrem, 1786
- speciesPenelope perspicax Bangs, 1911
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Penelope. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Dusky-legged GuanPenelope obscura Temminck, 1815 | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-crested GuanPenelope pileata Wagler, 1830 | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rusty-margined GuanPenelope superciliaris Temminck, 1815 | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Andean GuanPenelope montagnii (Bonaparte, 1856) | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chestnut-bellied GuanPenelope ochrogaster Pelzeln, 1870 | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yungas GuanPenelope bridgesi G. R. Gray, 1860 | CracidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=175739 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.
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:76H2G. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.