| Conopophaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Black-cheeked gnateater (Conopophaga melanops) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Conopophagidae |
| Genus: | Conopophaga Vieillot, 1816 |
| Type species | |
| Turdus auritus Gmelin, JF, 1789 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
Conopophaga is a genus of birds in the gnateater family. Its members are found in forest and woodland in South America.
The genus Conopophaga was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. [1] The name combines the Ancient Greek kōnōps meaning "gnat" with -phagos meaning "-eating". [2] The type species was subsequently designated as the chestnut-belted gnateater by George Robert Gray in 1840. [3] [4] The genus now contains ten species, all with "gnateater" in their common names. [5]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Rufous gnateater | Conopophaga lineata | eastern Brazil from Rio Grande do Sul north to central Brazil |
 | Chestnut-belted gnateater | Conopophaga aurita | Amazonia and the Guianas |
 | Black-breasted gnateater | Conopophaga snethlageae | Amazonian Brazil. |
 | Hooded gnateater | Conopophaga roberti | northern Brazil |
| Ash-throated gnateater | Conopophaga peruviana | western Amazon Basin of Brazil, Peru and Ecuador | |
 | Ceará gnateater | Conopophaga cearae | Brazilian states: Ceará, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande Do Norte, and Alagoas |
| Slaty gnateater | Conopophaga ardesiaca | Yungas of Bolivia and eastern Peru | |
 | Chestnut-crowned gnateater | Conopophaga castaneiceps | Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru |
 | Black-cheeked gnateater | Conopophaga melanops | Brazil |
 | Black-bellied gnateater | Conopophaga melanogaster | Amazon Basin of Brazil and northern Bolivia |
Gnateaters are birds found in the undergrowth of forest, woodland, and bamboo stands, with most species in the Amazon Basin, the Atlantic Forest, and the East Andean slopes. All are associated with dense thickets. While they are always found near the ground, seldom rising more than 1.5 m up, they also seldom travel or spend much time on the ground itself (though they do feed there; see diet). [6]
They are round, short-tailed, and long-legged birds, about 12–16 cm (4.5–6.5 in) in length. They are quite upright when standing. They are sexually dimorphic, with various shades of brown, rufous, olive, white, grey and black being the dominating colours. Most Conopophaga species have a white tuft behind the eye. [6]
Gnateaters are insectivorous as the group name implies. They feed mostly using two methods; one is to perch above the forest floor until prey is spotted, then lunge down to the ground to snatch it; having landed on the ground to snatch a prey item, it will not remain on the forest floor for more than a couple of seconds. The second method used by gnateaters is to glean insects directly from the foliage, trunks, and branches of low vegetation. Typical prey items include spiders, caterpillars, insect larvae, grasshoppers and beetles; individuals of some species have also been observed eating fruit, and in one case a frog. [6]
Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, Pardalotus, and several subspecies. The name derives from a Greek word meaning "spotted". The family once contained several other species now split into the family Acanthizidae.
The gnateaters are a bird family, Conopophagidae, consisting of twelve small suboscine passerine species in two genera, which occur in South and Central America.
Formicariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antthrushes. They are between 10 and 20 cm in length, and are most closely related to the ovenbirdss in the family Furnariidae, and the tapaculos in the family Rhinocryptidae. The family Formicariidae contains 12 species in two genera.
The ioras are a small family, Aegithinidae, of four passerine bird species found in south and southeast Asia. The family is composed of a single genus, Aegithina. They were formerly grouped with the leafbirds and fairy-bluebirds, in the family Irenidae.
The avian genus Quiscalus contains seven of the 11 species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North and South America.
The genus Passerina is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not directly related to buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings.
The plumbeous kite is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae that is resident in much of northern South America. It is migratory in the northern part of its range which extends north to Mexico. It feeds on insects which it catches either from a perch or while in flight.
The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are a groups of 18 relatively large honeyeaters in the genus Philemon. Additionally, the single member of the genus Melitograis is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and New Caledonia. They eat nectar, insects and other invertebrates, flowers, fruit, and seeds.
Coccyzus is a genus of cuckoos which occur in the Americas. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kokkuzo, which means to call like a common cuckoo. The genus includes the lizard cuckoos that were formerly included in the genus Saurothera.
Scytalopus is a genus of small suboscine passerine birds belonging to the tapaculo family Rhinocryptidae. They are found in South and Central America from Tierra del Fuego to Costa Rica, but are absent from the Amazon Basin. They inhabit dense vegetation at or near ground-level and are mainly found in mountainous regions, particularly the Andes. They can be very difficult to see as they run through the undergrowth in a mouse-like fashion.
The red-throated caracara is a social species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is placed in the monotypic genus Ibycter, or sometimes united in Daptrius with the black caracara. Unique among caracaras, it mainly feeds on the larvae of bees and wasps, but also takes the adult insects and fruits and berries.
The chestnut-belted gnateater is a species of bird in the family Conopophagidae, the gnateaters. It is found in the Amazon Basin of northern Brazil, southern Colombia and eastern Peru and Ecuador; also the Guianan countries of Guyana, Suriname and eastern French Guiana. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forest.
Grallaria is a large genus of Neotropical birds in the antpitta family Grallariidae.
The variegated antpitta is a species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, the Guianas and the northern Amazon Basin. Its range extends to Venezuela in the northwest; in the Amazon Basin, it is found in the downstream half of the basin, as well as in the Atlantic outlet region of the neighboring Tocantins-Araguaia River drainage to the southeast. A minor disjunct population is in Peru, and an Argentinian population is found in the tongue of land between Paraguay and southern Brazil.
The thrush-like antpitta is a species of bird in the antpitta family Grallariidae. It is found in Amazonia.
Myrmothera is a genus of birds belonging to the antpitta family Grallariidae that are found in Middle and South America.
The African pitta is an Afrotropical bird of the family Pittidae. It is a locally common to uncommon species, resident and migratory in the west, and an intra-African migrant between equatorial and southeastern Africa. They are elusive and hard to observe despite their brightly coloured plumage, and their loud, explosive calls are infrequently heard. The plump, somewhat thrush-like birds forage on leaf litter under the canopy of riparian or coastal forest and thickets, or in climax miombo forest. They spend much time during mornings and at dusk scratching in leaf litter or around termitaria, or may stand motionless for long periods. Following rains breeding birds call and display from the mid-canopy.
Formicarius is a genus of passerine birds in the family Formicariidae. These birds are all found in the tropical New World, from southern Mexico south to Central America and northern South America. All are named as antthrushes, and are insectivorous forest birds. They are largely terrestrial, feeding mainly on the ground on ants and other insects.
Vireo is a genus of small passerine birds restricted to the New World. Vireos typically have dull greenish plumage, but some are brown or gray on the back and some have bright yellow underparts. They resemble wood warblers apart from their slightly larger size and heavier bills, which in most species have a very small hook at the tip. The legs are stout.
The wood quails are birds in the genus Odontophorus of the New World quail family, which are residents in forests in the Americas. The core range of the genus is centered in the lowlands and foothills of the northern Andes of Colombia and the mountain ranges of Central America; however, some species occur elsewhere in tropical and subtropical South America.