Willisornis
Male common scale-backed antbird (Willisornis poecilonotus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Willisornis
Agne & Pacheco, 2007
Type species
Hypocnemis poecilinota[1]
Cabanis, 1847

Willisornis is a genus of insectivorous passerine birds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. These small, strongly sexually dichromatic birds are native to the Guianas and Amazon rainforest in South America, and often follow army ants.

Taxonomy

The genus Willisornis was erected by the Brazilian ornithologists Carlos Agne and José Fernando Pacheco in 2007. The genus is named after the American ornithologist Edwin O'Neill Willis.[2] The common scale-backed antbird had traditionally been included in the genus Hylophylax, but is now known to belong to a different clade. The name Dichropogon was used briefly instead, but this name is preoccupied by a genus of asilid flies (Dichropogon Bezzi, 1910).[2][3][4]

The two species are:[5]

The two species were previously considered conspecific. They were split based on the differences in their vocalization.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ "Thamnophilidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ a b Agne, C.E.Q.; Pacheco, J.F. (2007). "A homonymy in Thamnophilidae: a new name for Dichropogon Chubb". Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia. 15 (3): 484–485.
  3. ^ Brumfield, R.T. (June 2007). "Proposal (286): Revive the genus Dichropogon". South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  4. ^ Agne, Carlos Eduardo; Pacheco, Jose Fernando (March 2008). "Proposal (340): Reassign Dichropogon to Willisornis". South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Antbirds". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  6. ^ Isler, M.L.; Whitney, B.M. (2011). "Species limits in antbirds (Thamnophilidae): the Scale-Backed Antbird (Willisornis poecilinotus) complex". Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 123 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1676/10-082.1.
  7. ^ Zimmer, Kevin (September 2011). "Proposal (495): Split Willisornis vidua from Willisornis poecilinotus". South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society. Retrieved 6 February 2018.


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