Batara étoilé

Identification

The spot-winged antshrike is 12 to 13.5 cm (4.7 to 5.3 in) long and weighs 23 to 27 g (0.81 to 0.95 oz). It has a short tail and a heavy bill. The sexes have quite different plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies are mostly gray that is somewhat darker on their upperside, with a black crown, scattered black feathers on their back, and white spots on their wing coverts. Adult females are gray with a clay tinge on the crown, upperparts, tertials, and tail. Their face and underparts are pale clay with a gray tinge on the flanks and undertail coverts. Their wing coverts, primaries, and secondaries are cinnamon-tawny, with no spots on the coverts. Females of subspecies P. s. maculipennis have a deeper clay tinge on their upperparts than the nominate. Males of P. s. occipitalis are somewhat darker than the nominate. P. s. purusiana is almost indistinguishable from the nominate.

Taxonomie

The spot-winged antshrike was described and illustrated by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix in 1825 and given the binomial name Thamnophilus stellaris. The current genus Pygiptila was erected by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858. The spot-winged antshrike is the only member of that genus.<p>The further taxonomy of the spot-winged antshrike is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee and the Clements taxonomy assign it these four subspecies:<p>However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World recognizes only two subspecies and includes P. s. maculipennis and P. s. purusiana within the nominate P. s. stellaris.<p>This article follows the four-subspecies model.

Nom scientifique

Pygiptila stellaris

Autorité

(Spix, 1825)

Ordre

Passériformes

Famille

Thamnophilidés

Genre

Pygiptila

Répartition et habitat

The subspecies of the spot-winged antshrike are found thus:<p>The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has reports but no documented records of the spot-winged antshrike from French Guiana and therefore treats the species as hypothetical in that country.<p>The spot-winged antshrike primarily inhabits lowland evergreen forest, both terra firme and seasonally flooded. It also occurs in nearby secondary forest. It is arboreal and usually remains in the forest's middle levels to its canopy. In elevation it ranges as high as 700 m (2,300 ft) in Brazil but only to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Colombia and 400 m (1,300 ft) in Ecuador.

Migration

Espèce sédentaire

Comportement

Mode de migration: Espèce sédentaire.

Conservation

Tendance de la population: stable.

Tendance de la population

stable