Great Barbet (Psilopogon virens) - BirdLife species factsheet

Great Barbet Psilopogon virens

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Psilopogon virens (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously placed in the genus Megalaima.

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	altitudinal migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	202 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	6,680,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	-
Generation length	8.5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common in India and local in Pakistan (del Hoyo et al. 2002), while the population in China has been estimated at c. 100-10,000 breeding pairs (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: The species is tentatively assessed as being in decline due to habitat loss per Tracewski et al. (2016) and unsustainable levels of hunting.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Breeding visitor
Bangladesh	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Nepal	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native	yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Great Barbet Psilopogon virens. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/great-barbet-psilopogon-virens on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.