Black-and-white antbird

Black-and-white antbird
A male at Marchantaria Island, Iranduba, Amazonas state, Brazil
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thamnophilidae
Genus:	Myrmochanes Allen, 1889
Species:	M. hemileucus
Binomial name
Myrmochanes hemileucus (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1866)

The black-and-white antbird (Myrmochanes hemileucus) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". ^[2] It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. ^[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

The black-and-white antbird is the only member of genus Myrmochanes and has no subspecies. ^[2]

The black-and-white antbird was first described by the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin in 1866 and given the binomial name Hypocmenis hemileucus. ^[4] It was moved to genus Myrmochanes following a proposal by the American ornithologist Joel Asaph Allen in 1889. ^[5] The species is included in the tribe Formicivorini along with three other genera, Formicivora , Myrmotherula , and Terenura . ^[6]

Description

The black-and-white antbird is 10 to 12.2 cm (3.9 to 4.8 in) long and weighs 12 to 13 g (0.42 to 0.46 oz). Adult males' face, crown, nape, and upperparts are black except for a mostly hidden white patch between the shoulders. Their wings are black with sparse white tips on the coverts. Their tail is short, somewhat graduated, and black with white tips on the feathers. Their throat and underparts are white with variable amounts of buff on the flanks and belly. Adult females resemble males with the addition of white spots on the lores and a buffier belly and undertail coverts. The species' bill is long, slender, and black, its iris brown, and its legs and feet gray. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

Distribution and habitat

The black-and-white antbird is found in the western Amazon Basin along the Amazon from its origin in Peru to the mouth of the Rio Madeira in Brazil, and also along its major tributaries. It occurs along the Rio Napo from northwestern Ecuador through northern Peru to its confluence with the Amazon. In Peru it also occurs along the rios Ucayali and Marañón to where their confluence creates the Amazon, and on the Amazon itself. From the south it occurs along the Rio Madeira through central Bolivia and Brazil to the Amazon. In far southern Colombia it occurs only along the Amazon where the river forms the border with Peru. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

The black-and-white antbird is found almost exclusively on river islands, though it has been observed in agricultural plots on the mainland. It favors young to middle-aged islands with Tessaria scrub and vine tangles in the understory of tall Cecropia forest. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

Behavior

Movement

The black-and-white antbird is essentially a year-round resident throughout its range, but during the wet season when many islands are flooded it probably makes short-distance movements to larger islands or the mainland. ^[7]

Feeding

The diet of the black-and-white antbirds is not known in detail but includes insects and probably spiders. It typically forages in pairs or family groups, less often singly, and never as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It mostly forages in vine tangles and other vegetation in the understory of Cecropia woods, and usually between about 1 and 4 m (3 and 13 ft) of the ground but occasionally as high as 8 m (26 ft). It takes most of its prey by gleaning from leaves, bark, and grass blades. It forages very actively, often by lunging after prey, and sometimes makes short sallies from a perch. ^{[7] [9] [11]}

Breeding

Nothing is known about the black-and-white antbird's breeding biology. ^[7]

Songs and calls Listen to black-and-white antbird on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The black-and-white antbird's song is "an accelerating, descending, series of hollow, piping notes: PU-pu-pu'pu'puprrrrr" that is often sung as a duet with the female's voice being higher pitched. Its calls include "a series of hollow piping notes pu pu pu, also a more rapid musical rattle (similar to end of song), sometimes in series, also a single peu and a bisyllabic tuk-et" ^[13]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the black-and-white antbird as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known but is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. ^[1] It is considered locally not uncommon to fairly common. "Human activity has little short-term direct effect on the Black-and-white Antbird, other than the local effects of habitat destruction, [however it] potentially is vulnerable to widespread habitat loss, as might occur through perturbations of the Amazonian hydrological regime stemming from widespread deforestation, dam construction, or global climate change." ^[7] One study predicts that the species will lose at least 50% of its habitat within Brazil due to infrastructure development. ^[14]

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Black-and-white Antbird Myrmochanes hemileucus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22701743A93847249. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22701743A93847249.en . Retrieved 17 February 2024.
2. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2024). "Antbirds". IOC World Bird List. v 14.1. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
3. Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 26 November 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved November 27, 2023
4. Sclater, Philip L.; Salvin, Osbert (1866). "Catalogue of birds collected by Mr. E. Bartlett on the River Ucayali, Eastern Peru, with Notes and descriptions of new species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1866 (2): 175–201 [186–187].
5. Allen, J.A. (1889). "List of the Birds Collected in Bolivia by Dr. H. H. Rusby, with Field Notes by the Collectors" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2: 77–112.
6. Ohlson, Jan I.; Irestedt, Martin; Ericson, Per G. P.; Fjeldså, Jon (2013-02-07). "Phylogeny and classification of the New World suboscines (Aves, Passeriformes)". Zootaxa. 3613 (1): 1–35. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3613.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   24698900.
7. Schulenberg, T. S. and G. H. Rosenberg (2020). Black-and-white Antbird (Myrmochanes hemileucus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bawant1.01 retrieved February 17, 2024
8. van Perlo, Ber (2009). A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 254–255. ISBN   978-0-19-530155-7.
9. Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 422. ISBN   978-0-8014-8721-7.
10. McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 137. ISBN   978-0-9827615-0-2.
11. Rosenberg, Garry H. (1990). "Habitat Specialization and Foraging Behavior by Birds of Amazonian River Islands in Northeastern Peru". The Condor. 92 (92): 427–443. doi:10.2307/1368240. JSTOR   1368240.
12. Armacost, J. W., Jr, and A.P. Capparella. 2012. Use of mainland habitats by supposed river-island obligate birds along the Amazon River in Peru. Condor 114: 56-61
13. Lane, in Schulenberg, T.S., D.F. Stotz, D.F. Lane, J.P. O’Neill, and T.A. Parker III. 2007. Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
14. Vale, M.M.; Cohn-Haft, M.A.R.I.O.; Bergen, S.; Pimm, S.L. (2008). "Effects of future infrastructure development on threat status and occurrence of Amazonian birds". Conservation Biology. 22 (4): 1–13. Bibcode:2008ConBi..22.1006V. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00939.x. PMID   18544091. S2CID   5710729.