Common Scale-backed Antbird
A species of Scale-backed antbirds Scientific name : Willisornis poecilinotus Genus : Scale-backed antbirds
Common Scale-backed Antbird, A species of Scale-backed antbirds
Botanical name: Willisornis poecilinotus
Genus: Scale-backed antbirds
Content
Description General Info
Description
The common scale-backed antbird (Willisornis poecilinotus) is a species of passerine bird in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. It is found in the Amazon of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. As with other species of antbirds, it regularly follows swarms of army ants as they flush insects and other arthropods out of the leaf litter. The common scale-backed antbird was described and illustrated by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1847 and given the binomial name Hypocnemis poecilinotus. The specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek poikilonōtos "with variegated back" (from poikilos "spotted" and nōton "back"). It was subsequently included in the genus Hylophylax, but was found to not be closely related to the other species in the genus and was placed in Willisornis. It was briefly placed in Dichropogon, but this name is preoccupied by a genus of asilid flies (Dichropogon Bezzi, 1910). It was formerly considered conspecific with the Xingu scale-backed antbird. There are five subspecies: W. p. poecilinotus (Cabanis, 1847) – south Venezuela, the Guianas and northeast Brazil W. p. duidae (Chapman, 1923) – east Colombia, south Venezuela and northwest Brazil W. p. lepidonota (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1880) – southeast Colombia, east Ecuador and northeast Peru W. p. griseiventris (Pelzeln, 1868) – southeast Peru, north Bolivia and southwest Amazonian Brazil W. p. gutturalis (Todd, 1927) – northeast Peru and west Amazonian Brazil In addition to being sexually dimorphic, the plumages of the subspecies are highly variable, leading to speculations that the common scale-backed antbird as presently defined may include more than a single species. Males of all subspecies, and females of some (but not all) subspecies have white bars on the back, leading to its English name common scale-backed antbird.
Size
13 cm
Nest Placement
Tree
Feeding Habits
Common Scale-backed Antbird primarily consumes insects, including ant larvae and beetles, with prey occasionally extending to small lizards up to 3.5 cm long. Common Scale-backed Antbird forages mainly close to the ground and often follows army ants to capture prey disturbed by their movement. The bird exhibits adept clinging and sally-striking feeding behaviors and is known to feed both independently and in proximity to mixed-species flocks.
Habitat
The common Scale-backed Antbird predominantly resides in the understory of humid lowland and foothill evergreen forests of the Amazon Basin, favoring the terra firme forests but can occasionally be found in seasonally flooded várzea and igapó forests.
Dite type
Insectivorous
General Info
Feeding Habits
Bird food type
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Family
Antbirds Genus
Scale-backed antbirds Species
Common Scale-backed Antbird