Black-backed Bush Tanager
Urothraupis stolzmanni
Distinctive tanager found only at high elevations in the Andes. It has black upperparts, white throat and breast, gray belly, and a rather small bill. Sexes look alike. Typically encountered in small groups that forage actively in stunted forest and dense scrub near treeline, often with mixed species flocks.
Taxonomy
The black-backed bush tanager was formally described in 1885 by Władysław Taczanowski and Hans von Berlepsch from specimens collected by the Polish zoologist Jan Sztolcman (sometimes written Jean Stolzmann) on the eastern slopes of the Tungurahua Volcano in central Ecuador. The ornithologists introduced the monospecific genus Urothraupis and coined the binomial name Urothraupis stolzmanni. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek oura meaning "tail" with thraupis, an unidentified small bird, used by ornithologist for tanagers. The specific epithet honors the collector Sztolcman/Stolzmann. A 2014 molecular phylogenetic study of the tanager family Thraupidae found that the black-backed bush tanager is a member of the subfamily Poospizinae and has a sister relationship to the pardusco in the monospecific genus Nephelornis. The black-backed bush tanager is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Urothraupis stolzmanni
- Authority
- Taczanowski & Berlepsch, 1885
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Urothraupis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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