White-browed spinetail

Not to be confused with white-browed tit-spinetail.

White-browed spinetail
at Pichincha, Ecuador
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Furnariidae
Genus:	Hellmayrea Sztolcman, 1926
Species:	H. gularis
Binomial name
Hellmayrea gularis (Lafresnaye, 1843)
Synonyms
Synallaxis gularis

The white-browed spinetail (Hellmayrea gularis) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. ^[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

Several twentieth century authors placed the white-browed spinetail in genus Synallaxis . Data published in the early twenty-first century confirm its placement in Hellmayrea, and showed that it is not closely related to Synallaxis but instead to genus Asthenes . ^{[3] [4] [5]}

The white-browed spinetail is the only member of its genus and has these four subspecies: ^[2]

• H. g. gularis(Lafresnaye, 1843)
• H. g. brunneidorsalis(Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1953)
• H. g. cinereiventris(Chapman, 1912)
• H. g. rufiventris(Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1896)

Description

The white-browed spinetail is 11 to 13.5 cm (4.3 to 5.3 in) long and weighs 11 to 15 g (0.39 to 0.53 oz). It has a short tail compared to other spinetails. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies H. g. gularis have whitish supercilia that almost meet on the forehead on an otherwise dark rufescent brown face. Their forehead, crown, and nape are rufescent brown with faint paler streaks. Their upperparts and wings are also rufescent brown. Their tail is rufescent brown; the ends of the feathers are pointed and lack barbs. Their throat is white with a thin black band below it, and their underparts are unmarked cinnamon-brown to buffy brown, sometimes with a gray tinge. Their iris is dark brown to brown, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible pinkish horn to gray with a dark tip, and their legs and feet olive, olive-brown, or olive-yellowish. Juveniles have dark tips on the feathers of their breast and belly. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Subspecies H. g. brunneidorsalis has browner, less rufescent, upperparts than the nominate, with paler and grayer underparts with brown only on the flanks. H. g. cinereiventris has darker and richer brown upperparts than the nominate, with brownish gray underparts. H. g. rufiventris is darker overall than the nominate, with more rufescent upperparts and dark chestnut underparts. ^{[6] [8]}

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the white-browed spinetail are found thus: ^{[2] [6]}

• H. g. gularis: Andes of western Venezuela, all three Andean ranges in Colombia, and both slopes of the Andes of Ecuador and northern Peru's Department of Cajamarca
• H. g. brunneidorsalis: Serranía del Perijá that straddles the northeastern Colombia - northwestern Venezuela border
• H. g. cinereiventris: Andes of western Venezuela from Trujillo south to Táchira
• H. g. rufiventris: Andes of northern and central Peru between the departments of Amazonas and Ayacucho

The white-browed spinetail is most common in elfin forest; it also inhabits montane evergreen forest and the undergrowth and edges of cloudforest, where it often occurs in thickets of Chusquea bamboo. In elevation it ranges from 2,300 to 3,900 m (7,500 to 12,800 ft). ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Behavior

Movement

The white-browed spinetail is a year-round resident throughout its range. ^[6]

Feeding

The white-browed spinetail feeds on arthropods. It typically forages singly or in pairs, and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It hunts acrobatically, hitching and hopping up trunks and sometimes hangs upside down to reach prey, usually in the forest's dense understorey and sometimes on the ground. It gleans and probes for its prey in moss, dense foliage, dead leaves, bark, and bamboo. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Breeding

Nothing is known about the white-browed spinetail's breeding biology. ^[6]

Songs and calls Listen to white-browed spinetail on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The white-browed spinetail's song is "a series of high-pitched notes ending in trill, 'chit-chit-chit-chit-chi-chi-chichichichichichi' or 'cheet teet-teet-ti-tititit' ". Its calls include an "abrupt 'chip' " and a "nasal descending trill" ^[6] and also "repeated single 'chiyt' or 'tseet' notes" ^[7] .

Status

The IUCN has assessed the white-browed spinetail as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. ^[1] It is considered generally fairly common though local in Venezuela; it is not very well known. ^[6]

References

1. BirdLife International (2017). "White-browed Spinetail Hellmayrea gularis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22702405A118550967. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22702405A118550967.en . Retrieved 22 September 2023.
2. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Ovenbirds, woodcreepers". IOC World Bird List. v 13.2. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
3. Moyle, R. G., R. T. Chesser, R. T. Brumfield, J. G. Tello, D. J. Marchese, and J. Cracraft (2009). Phylogeny and phylogenetic classification of the antbirds, ovenbirds, woodcreepers, and allies (Aves: Passeriformes, infraorder Furnariides). Cladistics 25(4):386–405. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2009.00259.x
4. Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01374.x
5. Harvey, M.G.; et al. (2020). "The evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspot". Science. 370 (6522): 1343–1348. Bibcode:2020Sci...370.1343H. doi:10.1126/science.aaz6970. hdl: 10138/329703 . PMID   33303617. S2CID   228084618. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
6. Remsen, Jr., J. V. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). White-browed Spinetail (Hellmayrea gularis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whbspi2.01 retrieved September 22, 2023
7. Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 353–354. ISBN   978-0-8014-8721-7.
8. McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 118. ISBN   978-0-9827615-0-2.