A STRIKING NEW SPECIES OF BARBET (CAPITONINAE: CAPITO) FROM THE EASTERN ANDES OF PERU

Abstract In 1996, an expedition of personnel from the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science and the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos made a trail from the east bank of the upper Rio Cushabatay, departamento Ucayali, Peru, northeast to the top of a 1,538-m peak at 7°05′S, 75°39′W. The peak supports cloud forest from 1,200 m to the summit, and this “island” of habitat may be among the most isolated areas of cloud forest in South America. Among the depauperate cloud-forest avifauna we discovered a striking new species of Capito barbet, which apparently is the only member of the genus restricted to this habitat.