Belize see text The crested guan (Penelope purpurascens) is a Near Threatened species in an ancient group of birds of the family Cracidae, which are related to the Australasian megapodes or mound builders (Megapodiidae).

[3] The crested guan has three subspecies, the nominate P. p. purpurascens (Wagler, 1830), P. p. aequatorialis (Salvadori & Festa, 1900), and P. p. brunnescens (Hellmayr & Conover, 1932).

Adults of the nominate subspecies are mostly dusky olive brown and have a faint greenish or purplish iridescence.

It is found in Mexico from Sinaloa in the west and southern Tamaulipas in the east and south along the Pacific and Caribbean slopes through Belize and Guatemala into El Salvador and Honduras.

Subspecies P. p. brunnescens is found in the Serranía del Perijá where northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela meet, east around Lake Maracaibo, and also in the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges intermittenly from Falcón to Delta Amacuro.

[4][5][6][8] However, a study on Barro Colorado Island in Panama found that a high percentage of its diet there was young leaves, with insects also making a significant contribution.

The crested guan's dawn song is a "powerful 'steam-whistle' call, ending in a low growl: ku LEEErrr!".

[5] In the breeding season, at or near dawn males make a display flight during which they drum or whirr their wings.

"The species is threatened by the loss and fragmentation of its forest habitat, mainly for conversion to agricultural land and cattle pastures.