Buff-throated Woodcreeper
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| Xiphorhynchus guttatus (Lichtenstein, 1820) |
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Dendrocolaptes guttatus |
The Buff-throated Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus guttatus is a passerine bird which breeds in tropical South America from southeast Colombia to the Guyanas, excluding most of the Guiana Shield, and also in the northern Mata Atlântica. It was formerly believed to include the Cocoa Woodcreeper and Lafresnaye's Woodcreeper as subspecies.
This woodcreeper is typically 27-28cm long, and weighs 64g. The head and neck are buff-streaked dark brown, the upper back is lightly streaked dark brown, and the rest of the upperparts, wings and tail are rufous. The underparts are olive-brown with broad cinnamon streaks on the breast. The bill is long, pale, slightly decurved, and hooked at the tip. The normal call is a loud chev-re chev-re.
Buff-throated Woodcreepers are common and widespread birds of forests and other woodland. They are insectivores which feed on ants and other insects and spiders. It feeds low in trees, usually alone, but groups will follow columns of army ants. The species builds a bark-lined nest in a tree hole or hollow stump and lays two white eggs.
[edit] Systematics and evolution
The smaller Cocoa Woodcreeper, X. susurrans, was formerly included in this species, but is now normally considered to be distinct (AOU, 1998); it is found northwest of the Andes into Central America. Some other former subspecies were recognized to be another distinct species, Lafesnaye's Woodcreeper (X. guttatoides) (Aleixo, 2002a,b).
Biogeography and molecular data suggest that the relationship between the remaining subspecies and the taxa now included in X. guttatoides and X. susurrans deserves further study (Aleixo, 2002a,b; Remsen, 2003). Depending of the outcome of these studies, the species could be restricted to the southern coastal population, which is endangered by habitat fragmentation, making a change in conservation status necessary.
The most likely evolutionary scenario is that from lower Amazonia, the ancestors of Lafresnaye's Woodcreeper spread west- and southwestwards to the Andes, and those of the Buff-throated and Cocoa Woodcreeper downriver and then along the coast of northern South America, where X. susurrans then branched off as the northern lineage. Indeed, it may be that the trans-Andean forms of the latter may constitute yet another good species, Lawrence's Woodcreeper.
Subspecies
- X. g. guttatus (Lichtenstein, 1820) - Coastal Buff-throated Woodcreeper. Coastal areas of Paraíba to Espírito Santo-Rio de Janeiro border.
- X. g. polystictus (Salvin & Goodman, 1883) - Northern Buff-throated Woodcreeper. Orinoco drainage from E Vichada Department northeastwards, via E Venezuela to the Guyanas.
- X. g. connectens Todd, 1948 - Lower Amazon Buff-throated Woodcreeper. N bank of lower Amazonas from E of Manaus to Amapá. Doubtfully distinct from polystictus.
[edit] References
- Aleixo, Alexandre (2002): Molecular systematics, phylogeography, and population genetics of Xiphorhynchus (Aves: Dendrocolaptidae) in the Amazon basin. Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. PDF fulltext
- Aleixo, Alexandre (2002b): Molecular Systematics and the Role of the "Várzea"-"Terra-Firme" Ecotone in the Diversification of Xiphorhynchus Woodcreepers (Aves: Dendrocolaptidae). Auk 119(3): 621-640. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0621:MSATRO]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
- AOU (American Ornithologists' Union) (1998): Checklist of North American Birds (7th edition). American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
- BirdLife International (2006). Xiphorhynchus guttatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Remsen, J. Van (2003): 32. Buff-throated Woodcreeper. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 6: Broadbills to Tapaculos: 429-430, plate 35. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-50-4
