Ornate Stipplethroat
Epinecrophylla ornata
Geographically variable antwren. Males are gray with a clean black throat patch and white wing spots; females are browner with cream wing spots. Females in the western part of the range have black-and-white mottling on the throat; those in the east have unmarked throats. In some populations, both sexes have a reddish patch on the back. Occupies dense viny habitats and forages in the under- and midstory; in areas with bamboo, often largely restricted to bamboo patches. Song is a quick descending series of high, sharp notes.
Identification
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 the nominate subspecies E. 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 the coverts. 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.<p>Males of subspecies E. o. saturata are darker and more richly colored than the nominate, and females are slightly darker. Males of subspecies E. o. atrogularis are like saturata males; females have grayer upperparts than saturata with no cinnamon on their underparts. Males of E. 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 of E. 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.
Taxonomy
The ornate stipplethroat was described by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1853 and given the binomial name Formicivora ornata. It was subsequently placed in genus Myrmotherula. Based on genetic and vocal studies it and seven other members of that genus were moved to genus Epinecrophylla created in 2006. All were eventually named "stipplethroats" to highlight a common feature and to set them apart from Myrmotherula antwrens.<p>The International Ornithological Committee, the Clements taxonomy, and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society recognize these five subspecies:<p>However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats E. o. hoffmannsi as a species called the "eastern ornate stipplethroat". It calls E. o. ornata with its four subspecies the "western ornate stipplethroat".<p>This article follows the one species, five subspecies, model.
- Scientific name
- Epinecrophylla ornata
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1853)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Epinecrophylla
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the ornate stipplethroat are found thus:<p>The ornate stipplethroat primarily inhabits evergreen forest including terra firme, transitional forest, and várzea. In some areas it favors stands of Guadua 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.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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