Mato Grosso antbird

Mato Grosso antbird
Male above, female below
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Cercomacra
Species:
C. melanaria
Binomial name
Cercomacra melanaria
(Ménétriés, 1835)

The Mato Grosso antbird (Cercomacra melanaria) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay.[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

The Mato Grosso antbird was formally described in 1835 by the French zoologist Édouard Ménétries under the binomial name Formicivora melanaria.[3] The specific epithet is from Latin melania meaning "blackness".[4] The type locality is the town of Cuiabá in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.[5][6] This antbird is now placed in the genus Cercomacra that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858.[7][2] The species is monotypic: No subspecies are recognized.[2]

A 2014 study confirmed what had been earlier suggested, that the Mato Grosso antbird and the bananal (C. ferdinandi), Rio Branco (C. carbonaria), and jet (C. nigricans) antbirds form a clade within genus Cercomacra.[8]

Description

The Mato Grosso antbird is 16 to 16.5 cm (6.3 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 18.5 to 19.5 g (0.65 to 0.69 oz). Adult males are almost entirely black, with white edges on their outer scapulars, a white patch between them, and a hidden white patch under them. Their wing coverts and tail feathers have white tips and their flight feathers have white inner edges. Females have an olive-grey head and upperparts with a white interscapular patch. Their wings and tail are dark gray; their wing coverts and tail feathers have white tips. Their underparts are pale olive-gray that is whiter on their throat and the center of their breast.[9][10]

Distribution and habitat

The Mato Grosso antbird has a disjunct distribution. One population is found in the central Bolivian departments of Beni and Cochabamba. Another is found from far eastern Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia south into extreme northern Paraguay and east into south-central Brazil's Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states. It primarily inhabits gallery forest, tropical deciduous forest, and seasonally flooded savanna woodlands, in most cases near water. Within them it heavily favors areas whose understorey is dense with tangles of vines. In addition, part of the central Bolivian population occurs in dry Chaco forest. In elevation it is found up to 800 m (2,600 ft).[9][10]

Behavior

Movement

The Mato Grosso antbird is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.[9]

Feeding

The Mato Grosso antbird's diet has not been detailed but is known to be insects and spiders. Individuals, pairs, and family groups usually forage from the ground up to about 3 m (10 ft) above it, though occasionally as high as 8 m (25 ft). They hop and flutter-fly among vine tangles and other dense vegetation and usually take prey by gleaning and lunging from a perch. They sometimes briefly join mixed-species feeding flocks that pass through their territory. They are not known to follow army ants.[9][10]

Breeding

The Mato Grosso antbird's breeding season has not been fully defined but includes October and November. Its nest is a cup made of fine fibers and dried leaves held to a branch with spider web up to about 4.5 m (15 ft) above the ground. The clutch size is two eggs. The incubation period is about 14 days and fledging occurs 8 to 11 days after hatch. Both parents build the nest, incubate the eggs, and provision the nestlings.[9]

Dickcissel male perched on a metal pole singing, with neck stretched and beak open.

Songs and calls
Listen to the Mato Grosso antbird on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The male Mato Grosso antbird's song is a "[v]ery low, very dry, froglike 'krokreéeh-tjow' " that is often answered by the female's "high, strident 'chip-chip- -' ".[10]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the Mato Grosso antbird as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered locally common, especially in the Pantanal of Brazil and Bolivia. "Only part of Pantanal is formally protected, but nature of seasonal flooding cycles in region provides some natural buffer to human disturbance. A number of proposed hydro-electric schemes, if instituted, could pose significant threat to the general ecosystem of the Brazilian Pantanal."[9]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2018). "Mato Grosso Antbird Cercomacra melanaria". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22701692A130215657. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22701692A130215657.en. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2024). "Antbirds". IOC World Bird List. v 14.1. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  3. ^ Ménétriés, Édouard (1835). "Monographie de la famille des Myiotherinae où sont décrites les espèces qui ornent le Musée de L'Académie Impériale des Sciences". Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg. Series 6 (in French). 3 Part 2: 443–543 [500–501, Plate 7, fig. c].
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ^ Hellmayr, Carl Eduard (1924). Catalogue of Birds of the Americas and the Adjacent Islands in Field Museum of Natural History. Field Museum Natural History Publication 223. Zoological Series. Volume 13. Vol. Part 3: Pteroptochidae, Conopophagidae, Formicariidae. p. 224.
  6. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1951). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 7. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 217.
  7. ^ Sclater, Philip Lutley (1858). "Synopsis of the American Ant-birds (Formicariidae). Part II containing the Formicivorinae or Ant-wrens". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Part 26: 232–254 [244].
  8. ^ Tello, J.G., Raposo, M.A., Bates, J.M., Bravo, G.A., Cadena, C.D. and Maldonado-Coelho, M. (2014). Reassessment of the systematics of the widespread Neotropical genus Cercomacra (Aves: Thamnophilidae). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 170(3): 546–565.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Zimmer, K., M.L. Isler, and E. de Juana (2020). Mato Grosso Antbird (Cercomacra melanaria), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.magant1.01 retrieved July 16, 2024
  10. ^ a b c d van Perlo, Ber (2009). A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 252–253. ISBN 978-0-19-530155-7.