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Nest, Eggs, and Nest Placement of the Brazilian Endemic Black-bellied 
Seedeater (Sporophila melanogaster ) 
Cristiano Eidt Rovedder' and Carla Suertegaray Fontana 12 
ABSTRACT.—We present the first detailed description 
of the nest and eggs of the Black-bellied Seedeater 
(Sporophila melanogaster) based on observation of 64 nests 
in three areas of grassland in southeastern Santa Catarina and 
northeastern Rio Grande do Sul states, Brazil. The nests 
were found from November tlirough Match. The nest has 
tin. shape of a shallow basket, constructed with portions of 
dned grasses and strung with spider webs. Half of the nests 
were constructed in Ludwigiit sencea (Onagraceae), and the 
other half were in 15 other plant species. Of these, the most 
nnpnrtant were Eupatonum polystuchyiwi (10%) and 
Wi yrocline vauthiericaut (6%) (Asteraceae). Only the 
female constructs the nest. The eggs are ovoid and colored 
whitish with brownish-purple spots near the wider portion. 
Clutch size was two eggs, rarely three. Received 23 
''member 2010. Accepted II October 20! I. 
The Black-bellied Seedeater ( Sporophila mela- 
nugaster) is endemic to Brazil (Sick 1997). where it 
is listed as endangered (MMA 2003). Globally, it is 
considered a near-threatened species (IUCN 2010). 
The entire population in the breeding season is 
Uhorutorio de Omitologia. Museu de Ciencias e Tecnolo- 
g'a. Prngrama de Pds-Graduaqao cm Zoologia. Faculdadc 
<k‘ Biociencias da Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio 
Grande do Sul. PUCRS. Caixa Postal: 1429. 90619-900. Porto 
A| cgrc. RS. Brazil. 
Corresponding author: e-mail: carla@pucrs.br 
confined to a small grassland area in Planalto das 
Araucarias , in northeastern Rio Grande do Sul (RS) 
and southeastern Santa Catarina (SC) slates (Rid¬ 
gely and Tudor 1989, Rosario 1996, Sick 1997, 
Fontana el al. 2(K)8). These seedcalers migrate north 
after the breeding season, toward southeast and 
central Brazil, passing through Parana and Sao 
Paulo states, to reach Minas Gerais, southern Goias, 
and the Distrito Federal, where they overwinter 
(Ridgely and Tudor 1989. Sick 1997). 
Aspects of the reproductive biology of several 
species of Sporophila have been described in the 
last decade, including 5. caendescem (Francisco 
2006), S. hypoxantha (Di Giacomo 2005, Facchi- 
netti et al. 2008. Franz and Fontana 2010), 5. 
col laris (Facchinetti et al. 2008), S. leucoptera 
(Francisco 2009), S. lineola (Oliveira et al. 2010), 
and S. palustris (Jacobs et al. 2010). However, 
there is no published information about the 
reproductive biology of S. melanogaster. We 
describe for the first time the nest and eggs of 
the Black-bellied Seedeater, as well as the plant 
species used to support nests. 
METHODS 
Our study was conducted in high-altitude 
grasslands in the southern portion of the Atlantic 
