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Chestnut-tailed Antbird - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by Xyko Paludo
Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil, December 2017

Alternative name: Southern Chestnut-tailed Antbird

Sciaphylax hemimelaena

Identification

Female, Subspecies hemimelaena
Photo by Stanley Jones
San Martín, Peru, December, 2016

11–12 cm (4¼-4¾ in); a smallish antbird with a noticeably short tail.
Male

  • Dark grey head and neck, with a scaley appearance
  • Brown back
  • Rufous-chestnut tail
  • Brownish-black wing-coverts, the white and buffy tips forming two wing-bars
  • Black throat and breast

Distribution

From south of Rio Amazonas and Rio Maranon in Peru, to Santa Cruz in Bolivia, and east in Brazil to Rio Xingu, Rio Teles Pires, and Rio Guapore.

Taxonomy

Placed in genus Myrmeciza by Gill and Donsker.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized[1]:

  • S.h. hemimelaena:
  • Eastern Peru (south of River Marañón) to north-western Bolivia and south-western Amazonian Brazil
  • S.h. pallens:
  • Central Brazil south of River Amazon to north-eastern Bolivia (eastern Santa Cruz)

Habitat

Moist lowland forest to about 1300 m asl in the eastern Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Often seen near fallen trees.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of a variety of insects, larvae and probably some arthropods such as spiders.

Breeding

The nest is an open cup built on a curved palm leaf, woven with rootlets and dead leaves. The 2 cream eggs have pink markings.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Isler et al. 2002, Auk 119: 362-378
  3. BF Member observations
  4. Arthur Grosset
  5. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Feb 2018)

Recommended Citation

External Links

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