Dusky-backed jacamar

The dusky-backed jacamar is monotypic.[2] It and the pale-headed (B. goeringi), brown (B. lugubris), and white-throated jacamars (B. albogularis) form a superspecies.[3]

The dusky-backed jacamar is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long. Males weigh 18.5 g (0.65 oz) and females 16 g (0.56 oz). The male's upper parts, chest, and flanks are dark greenish black that appears bluish when worn. Its cheeks are sooty, the throat white or whitish, and the belly and breast cinnamon. The female is similar but its throat is buff.[4]

The dusky-backed jacamar is found in Panama's Darién Province and the adjoining and nearby northern Chocó, northern Antioquia, and southern Córdoba Departments of Colombia. There is also an isolated population in northern Bolívar Department, Colombia, that at one time was thought to be a subspecies. It inhabits humid primary and secondary forest. It is found in edges, such as by clearings and along streams, rather than the forest interior. In elevation it ranges up to 700 m (2,300 ft).[4]

The IUCN has assessed the dusky-backed jacamar as being of Least Concern.[1] It is scarce overall but locally common in its small range, though it "[t]olerates, or perhaps even prefers, a degree of habitat disturbance". The isolated Bolívar population might be vulnerable to habitat destruction.[4]