Rufous-backed stipplethroat

The rufous-backed stipplethroat (Epinecrophylla haematonota), also called the rufous-backed antwren or the stipple-throated antwren, is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is found in southeastern Colombia and southern Venezuela to eastern Ecuador, northern and eastern Peru and western Brazil in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.[2]

Stipple-throated antwren
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Epinecrophylla
Species:
E. haematonota
Binomial name
Epinecrophylla haematonota
(Sclater, 1857)

Taxonomy

The rufous-backed stipplethroat was described by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1857 and given the binomial name Formicivora haematonota.[3] It was formerly placed in the genus Myrmotherula. In 2014, the species name was changed from the nominate subspecies of the rufous-backed stipplethroat when two other former subspecies were reclassified as the Negro stipple-throated antwren and Yasuni antwren,[4][5][6] but vocalizations were found to be identical and morphological differences slight (Isler and Whitney 2018), so they were returned to subspecies status.

Description

The rufous-backed stipplethroat is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long. The male has mainly brown upper parts with a reddish-brown back and rump, and black wing coverts with white speckling and two white bars. The male's throat is black spotted with white, and the sides of the head, the breast and belly are grey. The female is similar to the male but the wing coverts are tipped with buff and the sides of the face and the throat are ochre, the throat sometimes being tinged with red. In both sexes, the colour of the iris is variable and can be orange, dark or whitish, and the tail is brown which distinguishes this species from the rufous-tailed stipplethroat (Epinecrophylla erythrura).[7] The song is a trill of short, staccato notes, first rising in pitch and then descending.[2]

Ecology

The species is often seen in small mixed flocks of passerine birds moving through the forest and foraging in the lower parts of the canopy. The diet consists mainly of insects and spiders, particularly crickets,[2] and is found on shoots and leaves, with the bird often probing into curled, dead foliage.[7]

Status

E. haematonota is a fairly common bird with a wide range. No particular threats are known, and in the absence of contrary information, the population is presumed to be stable and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the conservation status of this bird as being of "least concern".[1]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Epinecrophylla haematonota". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103657355A93831699.en.
  2. Zimmer, K; Isler, M.L. "Stipple-throated Antwren (Myrmotherula haematonota)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  3. Sclater, Philip L. (1857). "Characters of some apparently new species of American ant-thrushes". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 25: 46–48 [48].
  4. Whitney, B.M.; Isler, M.L.; Bravo, G.A.; Aristizábal, N.; Schunck, F.; Silveira, L.F.; Piacentini, V.Q. (2013). "A new species of Epinecrophylla antwren from the Aripuanã–Machado interfluvium in central Amazonian Brazil with revision of the "stipple-throated antwren" complex". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Special Volume: New Species and Global Index. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 263–267.
  5. "IOC Species Name Changes v.4.2". Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  6. "IOU Species updates 2014". Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  7. Ridgely, Robert S.; Tudor, Guy (2009). Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines. University of Texas Press. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-292-71748-0.

General references
  • Isler, M., D. Lacerda, P. Isler, S. Hackett, K. Rosenberg, and R. Brumfield (2006). Epinecrophylla, a new genus of antwrens (Aves: Passeriformes: Thamnophilidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 119(4): 522-527
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