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Thrush-like antpitta
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Grallariidae
Genus:	Myrmothera
Species:	M. campanisona
Binomial name
Myrmothera campanisona (Hermann, 1783)
Synonyms
Grallaria modesta

The thrush-like antpitta (Myrmothera campanisona) is a species of bird in the antpitta family Grallariidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Taxonomy and systematics

The thrush-like antpitta was described in 1778 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. Buffon used the French name "Le grand Béfroi". A hand-colored engraving was published separately to accompany Buffon's description. Buffon did not introduce scientific names but 1783 the French naturalist Johann Hermann coined the binomial name Myrmornin campanisonam for Buffon's bird. The specific epithet campanisona combines the Late Latin campana meaning "bell" with the Latin sonus meaning "sounding". The thrush-like antpitta was known under a large number of scientific names before arriving in genus Myrmothera that was introduced in 1816 by Louis Pierre Vieillot.

The thrush-like antpitta has these five subspecies:

• M. c. modesta (Sclater, PL, 1855)
• M. c. dissors Zimmer, JT, 1934
• M. c. campanisona (Hermann, 1783)
• M. c. signata Zimmer, JT, 1934
• M. c. minor (Taczanowski, 1882)

What is now the Tapajos antpitta (M. subcanescens) was previously treated as a sixth subspecies. Beginning in 2018 taxonomic systems implemented the split, though BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World did not do so until 2024.

Description

The thrush-like antpitta is about 14.5 to 15 cm (5.7 to 5.9 in) long and weighs between 39.5 and 64 g (1.4 and 2.3 oz). The sexes have the same plumage and the subspecies differ little from each other. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. c. campanisona have a small white spot behind their eye. Most of the rest of their face is rufous-brown with slightly paler and grayer lores. Their crown, nape, upperparts, and tail are rufous-brown. Their wings are mostly rufous-brown with dark brown inner webs and paler edges on the flight feathers. Their throat and underparts are white. Their breast has grayish brown edges and their sides and flanks are more extensively grayish brown.

The other subspecies of the thrush-like antpitta differ from the nominate and each other thus:

• M. c. modesta: more olive-brown (less rufescent) upperparts than nominate with a yellowish cast to the breast
• M. c. dissors: more olive-brown (less rufescent) upperparts than nominate but less so than modesta
• M. c. minor: duller and more olive-brown (less rufescent) upperparts than nominate
• M. c. signata: more olive-brown (less rufescent) upperparts than nominate but darker and more rufous than minor

All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a black maxilla, a pinkish orange or pinkish yellow mandible with a black tip, and pale pink legs and feet.

Distribution and habitat

The thrush-like antpitta is found throughout most of the Amazon Basin. The subspecies are found thus (but see below):

• M. c. modesta: restricted to the Eastern Andes in Colombia's Meta Department
• M. c. dissors: eastern Colombia, southern Venezuela's Amazonas state, and northwestern Brazil
• M. c. campanisona: eastern Venezuela's Bolívar state east through the Guianas and northern Brazil to the Atlantic, all north of the Amazon
• M. c. signata the Eastern Andes of southern Colombia and east of the Andes south through Ecuador into Peru to the Marañón River and Amazon; from them east to the Napo River while north of the Amazon
• M. c. minor: east of the Andes in Peru south of the Maranon and Amazon, south into Bolivia's Pando and La Paz departments, and east into western Brazil to the Purus River and perhaps beyond

The demarcations between the ranges of the subspecies, and especially that between dissors and signata, are not well defined.

The thrush-like antpitta inhabits humid rainforest in the lowlands and foothills, primarily terra firme. It favors areas with a dense understory such as openings caused by tree-fall, regrowing clearings, edges along roads, and especially edges along watercourses. It is found from sea level to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Brazil. In Venezuela it reaches 800 m (2,600 ft), in Colombia 600 m (2,000 ft), in Ecuador 700 m (2,300 ft), and in Peru 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and locally up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft).

Behavior

Movement

The thrush-like antpitta is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The thrush-like antpitta's diet has not been detailed but is known to include insects and other arthropods. It usually forages alone, and infrequently in pairs, hopping and walking on the forest floor and up onto fallen logs and low branches. It has a few times been observed attending army ant swarms.

Breeding

The thrush-like antpitta's breeding season varies geographically, for instance including December and January in French Guiana, March and April in Guyana, and spanning at least December to May in Ecuador. The species' nest is a shallow cup of sticks lined with rootlets and other flexible material sitting on substrates like a tangle of small branches, interlaced vines, clumps of grass, and the base of a clump of ferns. Nests are usually near the ground; the highest known was 60 cm (2 ft) above it. Both sexes build the nest. All known clutches were of two eggs and both sexes incubate the clutch. The incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The thrush-like antpitta typically sings from the ground or a low perch within dense vegetation. One description of its song, from Ecuador, is "a series of 4-6 hollow whistled notes, delivered quite quickly, 'whoh-whoh-whoh-whoh-whoh-whoh' " and may be repeated for long stretches. There appears to be some variation in the song, as that in eastern Venezuela is described as "a low, rhythmically whistled wü-whoo, wü-whee-whee, 1st and 3rd notes lower in pitch; has breezy, hollow, and reedy quality". The species' call is "a low rattle or churr".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the thrush-like antpitta as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. "The species appears generally tolerant of secondary, disturbed and fragmented habitats. However, as large-scale loss of forests through logging and agricultural activities can cause the extirpation of the species' insect prey, deforestation represents an indirect threat to the species." It is considered "fairly common" in Colombia, "numerous and widespread" in Ecuador, "uncommon and apparently very local" in Venezuela, and "widespread and fairly common" in Peru. It occurs in many protected areas. However, it is "a forest-floor insectivore and it seems unlikely that populations will thrive for long in human-altered landscapes where other ecologically similar species are prone to expatriation".

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2023). "Thrush-like Antpitta Myrmothera campanisona". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2023: e.T232624597A232983853. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T232624597A232983853.en. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
2. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Antthrushes, antpittas, gnateaters, tapaculos, crescentchests". IOC World Bird List. v 14.2. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
3. Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1778). "Le grand Béfroi". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale. p. 470.
4. Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de; Martinet, François-Nicolas; Daubenton, Edme-Louis; Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Le Beffoi, de Cayenne". Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 8. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 706, Fig 1.
5. Hermann, Johann (1783). Tabula affinitatum animalium olim academico specimine edita, nunc uberiore commentario illustrata cum annotationibus ad historiam naturalem animalium augendam facientibus (in Latin). Argentorati : Impensis Joh. Georgii Treuttel. p. 189.
6. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
7. ^ Greeney, H. F. (2020). Thrush-like Antpitta (Myrmothera campanisona), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.thlant2.01 retrieved September 16, 2024
8. Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, C. D. Cadena, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, J. F. Pacheco, J. Pérez-Emán, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 21 June 2018. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithologists' Union. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 22 June 2018
9. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2019. IOC World Bird List (v 9.1). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.9.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
10. Clements, J. F., et al. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved August 20, 2018
11. HBW and BirdLife International (2024). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 8. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/taxonomy retrieved January 5, 2024
12. ^ Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela (second ed.). Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. Plate 43.
13. ^ van Perlo, Ber (2009). A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 266–267. ISBN 978-0-19-530155-7.
14. ^ McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-9827615-0-2.
15. ^ Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-8014-8721-7.
16. ^ Schulenberg, T.S., D.F. Stotz, D.F. Lane, J.P. O’Neill, and T.A. Parker III. 2010. Birds of Peru. Revised and updated edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Plate 180

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Myrmothera
• Birds of the Amazon rainforest
• Birds of the Guiana Shield
• Birds described in 1783