| Ornate stipplethroat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male fromCordillera del Cóndor,Ecuador | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thamnophilidae |
| Genus: | Epinecrophylla |
| Species: | E. ornata |
| Binomial name | |
| Epinecrophylla ornata (Sclater, PL, 1853) | |
| Subspecies | |
See text | |
 | |
Theornate stipplethroat (Epinecrophylla ornata), formerly called theornate antwren[3], is a species ofbird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of familyThamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found inBolivia,Brazil,Colombia,Ecuador, andPeru.[4]
The ornate stipplethroat wasdescribed by the English zoologistPhilip Sclater in 1853 and given thebinomial nameFormicivora ornata.[5] It was subsequently placed ingenusMyrmotherula. Based on genetic and vocal studies it and seven other members of that genus were moved to genusEpinecrophylla created in 2006. All were eventually named "stipplethroats" to highlight a common feature and to set them apart fromMyrmotherula antwrens.[6][7][8]
TheInternational Ornithological Committee, theClements taxonomy, and the South American Classification Committee of theAmerican Ornithological Society recognize these five subspecies:[4][9][6]
However,BirdLife International'sHandbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treatsE. o. hoffmannsi as a species called the "eastern ornate stipplethroat". It callsE. o. ornata with its four subspecies the "western ornate stipplethroat".[10][11]
This article follows the one species, five subspecies, model.
The ornate stipplethroat is 9 to 11 cm (3.5 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 8.5 to 11 g (0.30 to 0.39 oz). Adult males of thenominate subspeciesE. o. ornata have a gray head, neck, and upper back. Their lower back and rump are rufous chestnut. Their tail is blackish gray with thin white edges to the feathers. Their wings are blackish gray with white tips on thecoverts. They have a solid black throat. Their underparts are mostly pale gray with a brown tinge to the flanks and undertail coverts. Adult females have a mostly olive-tinged cinnamon face. Their crown, neck, and upper back are grayish olive-brown. Their throat is black with white streaks. Their underparts are olive-tinged cinnamon that is darker on the flanks and undertail coverts.[12][13][14][15]
Males of subspeciesE. o. saturata are darker and more richly colored than the nominate, and females are slightly darker. Males of subspeciesE. o. atrogularis are likesaturata males; females have grayer upperparts thansaturata with no cinnamon on their underparts. Males ofE. o. meridionalis have entirely gray upperparts (no rufous chestnut) and pale gray underparts. Females have gray to grayish olive-brown upperparts and cinnamon-rufous tinged buff underparts. Males ofE. o. hoffmannsi have less extensive rufous chestnut on their upperparts than the nominate. Females' throats are the same olive-tinged cinnamon as their underparts. They also have less rufous chestnut on their upperparts than the nominate, and their wing coverts have buff spots instead of white.[12][13]
The subspecies of the ornate stipplethroat are found thus:[12]
The ornate stipplethroat primarily inhabitsevergreen forest includingterra firme,transitional forest, andvárzea. In some areas it favors stands ofGuadua bamboo and in others areas with many vine tangles. In elevation it reaches 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia but only 900 m (3,000 ft) in Brazil and 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Ecuador.[12][13][14][15]
The ornate stipplethroat is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.[12]
The ornate stipplethroat feeds onarthropods, especially insects and spiders. It typically forages singly, in pairs, or in small family groups, and usually as part of amixed-species feeding flock. It mostly forages in the forest understory to mid-storey between about 4 and 9 m (13 and 30 ft) above the ground but occasionally as low as 1 m (3 ft) and as high as 20 m (65 ft). It takes its prey almost entirely by gleaning from dead leaves on trees but also from dead leaves caught in vine tangles and small palms.[12][13][14][15]
The ornate stipplethroat's breeding season has not been fully described, but spans from December to July in lowland Ecuador and includes July in Peru. A nest of subspeciesE. o. hoffmannsi was an open cup of thin roots, dry leaves, and twigs suspended in a branch fork. One ofE. o. atrogularis was dome-shaped with a side entrance, and made of dead leaves, rootlets, and moss. The latter nest contained two eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.[12]
| Songs and calls |
The ornate stipplethroat's song varies with the subspecies. That ofE. o. saturata is described as "a thin, high-pitched chipper that fades away, 'tsee-tsee-tsi-tsi-tsitsitsi' ".[14] That ofE. o. hoffmannsi is an "extr. hig, thin, rattling trill"[13] whose frequency drops at the end[12]. Those ofmeridionalis andatrogularis are similar to that ofhoffmannsi but with less of a terminal frequency drop.[12] The species' calls are less variable, and described as a " short emphaticpseet! ortsee!".[12]E. o. hoffmannsi also makes a "grating 'zee-zee-zee-' ".[13]
TheIUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has separately assessed the "western" and "eastern" ornate stipplethroats. Both have large ranges and unknown population sizes that are believed to be stable. No immediate threats to either have been identified.[1][2] The species is considered fairly common but local in most of its range though scarce in Ecuador and uncommon in Colombia.[12][14][15] It occurs in several large protected areas, and "vast contiguous areas of intact habitat within the regions occupied by this species appear to be at little near-term risk of development, although they are not formally protected".[12]
Media related toEpinecrophylla ornata at Wikimedia Commons
