biology

Orange-breasted forest robin

Orange-breasted forest robin is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Orange-breasted forest robin rather than just read about it. In short: The orange-breasted forest robin (Stiphrornis erythrothorax) is a species of bird mainly found throughout the African tropical rainforest. It has a total length of around 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in), has dark upperparts, and a throat and chest that, depending on the subspecies, is yellow-orange or deep orange.

Key takeaways

Orange-breasted forest robin belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Orange-breasted forest robin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Orange-breasted forest robin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The orange-breasted forest robin (Stiphrornis erythrothorax) is a species of bird mainly found throughout the African tropical rainforest. It has a total length of around 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in), has dark upperparts, and a throat and chest that, depending on the subspecies, is yellow-orange or deep orange.

Description It has a total length of around 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in), has dark upperparts, and a throat and chest that, depending on the exact subspecies, is yellow-orange or deep orange.

Taxonomy The orange-breasted forest robin was formally described in 1855 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub under the current binomial name Stiphrornis erythrothorax. The specimen had been collected by the Dutch zoologist and colonial administrator Hendrik Severinus Pel at Dabocrom, Ghana. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek ερυθρος/eruthros meaning "red" with θωραξ/thōrax meaning "breastplate". The initial split into multiple species within this genus is based on a review from 1999 where it, based on the phylogenetic species concept, was argued that all then recognized taxa should be considered monotypic species. Of these, S. gabonensis and S. xanthogaster were formerly considered subspecies of S. erythrothorax, whereas S. sanghensis was described as an entirely new species. The split was not followed in Handbook of the Birds of the World, where it was described as "perhaps premature". Comparably, the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group (and consequently IUCN) recommended not following the split, as differences in plumages are relatively small, genetic sampling considered incomplete, and evidence for intergradation or parapatry is lacking. Another species from this complex, S. pyrrholaemus, was described as a new species in 2008. Based on mtDNA, it is placed within S. erythrothorax sensu lato, and consequently is only a species (rather than a subspecies of S. erythrothorax) if at least some of the taxonomy recommended in 1999 is followed. The genetic divergence between S. pyrrholaemus and other members of the genus is comparable to that between some other closely related species. Three additional taxa in the forest robin complex were described (as species) in 2016: Stiphrornis (erythrothorax) dahomeyensis (Dahomey forest robin), S. (e.) inexpectatus (Ghana forest robin), and S. (e.) rudderi (Rudder's forest robin). These three taxa are nested within S. erythrothorax sensu lato; however, using the phylogenetic species concept, the study recommended the treatment of all eight forest robin taxa as distinct species. Clements recognizes three species. the olive-backed forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, the orange-breasted forest robin, Stiphrornis erythrothorax, and the yellow-breasted forest robin, Stiphrornis mabirae.

Subspecies Four subspecies are recognised:

S. e. erythrothorax Hartlaub, 1855 – Sierra Leone to southwest Ghana S. e. gabonensis Sharpe, 1883 – Ghana east to central Cameroon and north Gabon; Bioko (Gulf of Guinea) S. e. dahomeyensis Voelker, Tobler, Prestridge, Duijm, Groenenberg, Martin, AD, Nieman & Roselaar & Huntley, 2017 – south Benin, southeast Ghana S. e. inexpectatus Voelker, Tobler, Prestridge, Duijm, Groenenberg, Martin, AD, Nieman & Roselaar & Huntley, 2017 – southwest Ghana

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Orange-breasted forest robin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Orange-breasted forest robin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Orange-breasted forest robin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Orange-breasted forest robin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Orange-breasted forest robin

In research: Orange-breasted forest robin appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Orange-breasted forest robin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Orange-breasted forest robin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1855, Birds of the African tropical rainforest, IUCN Red List least concern species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Orange-breasted forest robin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Orange-breasted forest robin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Orange-breasted forest robin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Orange-breasted forest robin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Orange-breasted forest robin in simple terms?

Why does Orange-breasted forest robin matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Orange-breasted forest robin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Orange-breasted forest robin.