Tanagers (Thraupidae)

Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata) - HBW 16, p. 234

French: Calliste à coiffe d’or German: Purpurmaskentangare Spanish: Tangara Cabecidorada
Other common names: Golden-headed/Golden-masked Tanager, Hooded Tanager(!)

Taxonomy: Calliste larvata du Bus de Gisignies, 1846, Tabasco, Mexico.
Molecular-genetic data indicate that this species is sister-species to both T. cyanicollis and T. nigrocincta, and that it is more closely related to former, although it has been treated as conspecific with latter. Geographical variation partly clinal. Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • larvata (du Bus de Gisignies, 1846) - Caribbean slope of SE Mexico (from Tabasco, N Oaxaca and N Chiapas), Belize and E Guatemala S to extreme N Costa Rica.
  • centralis (Berlepsch, 1912) - Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and W Panama (Bocas del Toro, N Veraguas and N Coclé).
  • franciscae (P. L. Sclater, 1856) - Pacific slope of Costa Rica and W Panama (E to Veraguas).
  • fanny (Lafresnaye, 1847) - E Panama (from Colón on Caribbean slope, and from Canal Zone on Pacific slope) E to Colombia (N base of W & C Andes, lower Cauca Valley, middle Magdalena Valley, and Pacific lowlands and slope from Chocó) S to W Ecuador (Manabí and Los Ríos).