| Black-goggled tanager | |
|---|---|
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| Male in São Paulo, Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Trichothraupis Cabanis, 1851 |
| Species: | T. melanops |
| Binomial name | |
| Trichothraupis melanops (Vieillot, 1818) | |
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| The population in the Andes, seen on the left, is now thought to be a different species | |
Theblack-goggled tanager (Trichothraupis melanops) is a species of bird in thefamilyThraupidae, part of the genusTrichothraupis. It is found at low levels in forest and woodland in a large part of eastern and southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and far north-eastern Argentina, with adisjunct population along the EastAndean slope in Peru, Bolivia, and far north-western Argentina. While generally common and widespread, and consequently considered to be ofleast concern byBirdLife International andIUCN, the population associated with the Andes is relatively local and uncommon.
The underparts are tawny, the back and head are dull brownish-olive, and the tail and wings are contrastingly black (the latter with a whitespeculum that is difficult to see when perched, but conspicuous in flight). The male has a yellow crown patch and a large black patch around the eyes (the black "goggles" for which the species is named).
The black-goggled tanager wasformally described in 1818 by the French ornithologistLouis Pierre Vieillot under thebinomial nameMuscicapa melanops. Vieillot based his description on theLindo pardo copete amarillo that had been described by the Spanish naturalistFélix de Azara in 1802 based on a specimen collected in Paraguay.[2][3] The black-goggled tanager is now the only species placed in the genusTrichothraupis that was introduced by the German ornithologistJean Cabanis in 1851.[4][5][6] The genus nameTrichothraupis combines theAncient Greekthrix meaning "hair" with the genus nameThraupis. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greekmelas meaning "black" withōps meaning "face".[7] The black-goggled tanager ismonotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[6]
In 2024, the disjunct population of the East Andean slope was proposed to be a separate species,Trichothraupis griseonota, based on examination of museum specimens. This population differs from thetype population ofT. melanops by the males having a more extensive black facial mask and greyer back plumage, as well as both sexes having paler underparts.[8] However, the proposal was rejected by theSouth American Classification Committee (SACC), who argued that the population is better treated as asubspecies.[9]
Within theThraupidae, the black-goggled tanager is a member of thesubfamily Tachyphoninae and is thesister species to thegrey-headed tanager in themonospecific genusEucometis.[10]
| Songs and calls |
