Woodcreepers | |
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Cocoa woodcreeper | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Furnariidae |
Subfamily: | Dendrocolaptinae |
Genera | |
16, see article text |
The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ovenbirds (Furnariidae). They superficially resemble the Old World treecreepers, but they are unrelated and the similarities are due to convergent evolution. The subfamily contains 63 species in 16 genera. [1]
Woodcreepers range from 14 to 35 cm in length. [2] [3] Generally brownish birds, the true woodcreepers maintain an upright vertical posture, supported by their specialized stiff tails.
They feed mainly on insects taken from tree trunks. However, woodcreepers often form part of the core group at the centre of flocks attending army ant swarms. Woodcreepers are arboreal cavity-nesting birds; two or three white eggs are laid and incubated for about 15 to 21 days. [2]
These birds can be difficult to identify in that they tend to have similar brown upperparts, and the more distinctive underparts are hard to see on a bird pressed against a trunk in deep forest shade. The bill shape, extend/shape of spots/streaks, and call are useful aids to determining species.
The woodcreepers are generally fairly uniform in appearance. They range in size from the wedge-billed woodcreeper (13 cm (5.1 in)) to the strong-billed woodcreeper (35 cm (14 in)). Males tend to be slightly larger than females on average, but considerable overlap in size occurs in most species. Pronounced sexual dimorphism in size and plumage is rare. Bill size and shape accounts for much of the variation between the species. Bills can be straight or highly decurved, and can account for as much as a quarter of the length of the bird (as happens in the long-billed woodcreeper). The plumage is usually subdued and often brown, or sometimes rufous or other dark colours. Many species have patterns such as checking, spotting, or barring on their plumage. The feathers of the tail are rigid and are used for supporting the body when climbing tree trunks; [4] [5] the tail can support most of the body weight and birds that lose their tail find climbing difficult. Woodcreepers climb by flexing their legs and hopping up the trunk. The feet of the woodcreepers are also modified for climbing. The front toes are strongly clawed and toe IV is as long as toe III to increase the ability of the bird to grasp around branches. [5] The legs are short but strong. [3] Woodcreepers are also characterized by a belly feather growth pattern not found in any other birds.
The woodcreepers are generally forest birds of Central and South America. Most species occur in rainforests, with the centre of diversity of the subfamily being the Amazon Basin. As many as 19 species of woodcreeper may co-occur in some areas of the Amazon, although in other rainforests, such as those in Costa Rica, the numbers are much lower. Other habitats used by the woodcreepers include pine-oak woodland, montane cloud forest, and pine forests. A few species, like the scimitar-billed woodcreeper, inhabit savannah or other partly open environments. Woodcreepers are absent from the temperate forests of southern South America. [3]
The woodcreepers are insectivores that are mostly arboreal in nature. Insects form the majority of the diet, with some spiders, centipedes, millipedes and even lizards being taken as well. A few specimens collected by scientists had fruit or seeds in their stomachs, but plant material is not thought to be regularly taken by any species. A few species forage on the ground, but most forage on the trunks of trees, on and on the underside of branches. They are generally solitary or occur in pairs, but frequently join mixed-species feeding flocks. The flocks they join are usually the lower level ones rather than canopy flocks, and are usually those insectivorous ones rather than frugivorous ones. Prey is almost always obtained by moving up the trunk or branch, and there are two main foraging techniques, probing and sallying. Probers investigate rough bark, mosses, masses of trapped dead leaves, bromeliads, and other areas where prey may be hiding, whereas those that sally launch into the air briefly to snatch prey that has been flushed by their movement. Several species regularly attend swarms of army ants to catch prey flushed by the ants. [6]
The former family has been merged into the ovenbird family, Furnariidae, by most authorities because analyses of mt and nDNA sequence data showed Sclerurus leaftossers and Geositta miners to be basal to the Furnariidae and the woodcreepers. [7] An alternative option was recommended by Moyle et al. (2009), [8] in which the woodcreepers maintain their status as a family, while the ovenbirds (as traditionally defined) are split into two families: Scleruridae and Furnariidae.
The genus Xenops , which have usually been considered ovenbirds, represent an early divergence. Although some analyses suggested that they are more closely related to the woodcreepers than to true furnariids, [9] other studies have not found the same results. [8] [10] Others suggested placing Xenops in its own family Xenopidae. [11]
Evolutionary relationships among woodcreeper species are now fairly well known thanks to the use of DNA sequence data. [12] [8] [10] Some previous results based on morphology [13] were not supported by molecular data, mostly due to instances of convergent evolution in beak morphology. [12] Plumage patterns, on the other hand, are more in agreement with the molecular data.
DNA studies revealed that Deconychura species belong into separate genera [14] and that the Greater scythebill should be placed in its own genus. [15] Moving Lepidocolaptes fuscus to Xiphorhynchus restores monophyly of Lepidocolaptes .
Additionally, the species-level taxonomy of several groups requires further study. Examples of "species" where vocal and morphological variations suggests that more than one species-level taxon could be involved are the curve-billed scythebill and the white-chinned, olivaceous, strong-billed and straight-billed woodcreepers. The genus Xiphorhynchus also requires much more research in this regard. [16] [17] Hylexetastes may contain anything from one to four species.
A cladogram of the 16 woodcreeper genera based on the results of a 2020 molecular phylogenetic study of the suboscines by Michael Harvey and collaborators is shown below. [18]
Dendrocolaptinae |
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Tribe | Image | Genus | Species |
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Sittasomini – "intermediate" woodcreepers [8] | CerthiasomusDerryberry et al., 2010 |
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| DeconychuraCherrie, 1891 |
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![]() | SittasomusSwainson, 1827 |
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| Dendrocincla G.R. Gray, 1840 |
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Dendrocolaptini – "strong-billed" woodcreepers [8] | |||
![]() | GlyphorynchusWied-Neuwied, 1831 |
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![]() | NasicaLesson, 1830 |
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![]() | DendrexetastesEyton, 1851 |
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![]() | Dendrocolaptes Hermann, 1804 |
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![]() | Hylexetastes P.L. Sclater, 1889 |
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![]() | Xiphocolaptes Lesson, 1840 |
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![]() | Dendroplex Swainson, 1827 |
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![]() | Xiphorhynchus Swainson, 1827 (possibly polyphyletic) |
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![]() | Campylorhamphus W. Bertoni, 1901 |
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DrymotoxeresClaramunt, Derryberry, Chesser, RT, Aleixo & Brumfield, 2010 |
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![]() | DrymornisEyton, 1852 |
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![]() | Lepidocolaptes Reichenbach, 1853 |
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Ovenbirds or furnariids are a large family of small suboscine passerine birds found from Mexico and Central to southern South America. They form the family Furnariidae. This is a large family containing around 315 species and 70 genera. The ovenbird, which breeds in North America, is not a furnariid – rather it is a distantly related bird of the wood warbler family, Parulidae.
The Tyranni (suboscines) are a suborder of passerine birds that includes more than 1,000 species, the large majority of which are South American. It is named after the type genus Tyrannus.
Xenops is a genus in the bird family Furnariidae, the ovenbirds. The genus comprises three species of xenops, all of which are found in Mexico, Central America and South America, particularly in tropical rain forests.
Automolus is a genus of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae.
The tepui foliage-gleaner, also known as the white-throated foliage-gleaner, is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in forest and woodland in the tepuis of Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela.
The sulphur-bearded reedhaunter is a species of non-migratory bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in the Pampas and adjacent areas of eastern Argentina, southern Uruguay, and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its natural habitats are marshes with dense reed beds. Previously included in the genus Cranioleuca, but genetic evidence revealed that L. sulphuriferus is the sister species of Limnoctites rectirostris.
The spot-throated woodcreeper is a species of bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, and possibly Suriname.
The red-shouldered spinetail is a species of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to the Caatinga region of north-eastern Brazil. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The eastern woodhaunter, also known as the Amazonian woodhaunter, is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the western woodhaunter and when lumped had the name "striped woodhaunter". It is found in the western part of the Amazon rainforest: west Brazil, southeast Colombia, east Ecuador, northeast Peru, south Venezuela and north Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. The species nests in earth tunnels.
The tawny tit-spinetail is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in Peru, Bolivia and far northwestern Argentina.
The straight-billed reedhaunter is a South American bird species in the family Furnariidae.
The chestnut-winged foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.
The buff-fronted foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae, the ovenbirds. It is found in southeastern regions of South America in the cerrado and pantanal of Brazil and Paraguay as well as areas of southeast coastal Brazil; also extreme northeast Argentina. In western Andean and northwest South America, it is found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia; and in the northwest, it is also found in Panama and Costa Rica.
The recurvebills are two species of Furnariid birds from the genus Syndactyla. They are restricted to humid forests in the South American countries of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. Their common name refers to the peculiar bill-shape, which, at least in the case of the larger-billed Peruvian recurvebill, is an adaption for manipulating bamboo stems. Both species are overall rufescent brown. The SACC reclassified the recurvebills from the genus Simoxenops to Syndactyla based on studies from Dewberry (2011).
The great spinetail is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Peru where its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Thripophaga is the genus of birds that popularly are known as softtails. They are members of the ovenbird family, Furnariidae. They are found in wooded and shrubby habitats, sometimes near water, in South America.
Poecilurus is an obsolete genus of birds formerly classified in the Furnariidae (ovenbird) family from South America. It contained three species:
Pseudasthenes is a genus of small suboscine passerine birds, commonly known as canasteros or false canasteros, in the ovenbird family. It was described in 2010 to accommodate four species split from the related genus Asthenes. The genus is endemic to South America.
Joel Lester Cracraft, is an American paleontologist and ornithologist. He received a PhD in 1969 from Columbia University.