The Amazonian streaked antwren (''Myrmotherula multostriata'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family

Thamnophilidae The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...

, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.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

Taxonomy and systematics

The Amazonian streaked antwren was described and illustrated by the English zoologist

Philip Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an England, English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological ...

in 1858 and given its current

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Myrmotherula multostriata''. By the early twentieth century it and what are now the Guianan streaked antwren (''M. surinamensis'') and the Pacific antwren (''M. pacifica'') were considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

as the "streaked antwren". Differences in their plumage and voice indicate that they are separate species.Isler, M.L., Isler, P.R. and Whitney, B.M. (1999). Species limits in antbirds (Passeriformes: Thamnophilidae): the ''Myrmotherula surinamensis'' complex. Auk 116(1): 83–96.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. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved November 27, 2023Richard C. Banks, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, and Douglas F. Stotz. "Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologist's Union ''Check-list of North American Birds''". ''The Auk'' 2000, vol. 117:847-858 retrieved February 7, 2024Zimmer, K. and M.L. Isler (2020). Amazonian Streaked-Antwren (''Myrmotherula multostriata''), 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.amasta1.01 retrieved February 7, 2024 The Amazonian streaked antwren is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

: No

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized.

Description

The Amazonian streaked antwren is long and weighs . It is a smallish bird with a tiny tail. Adult males have a black and white streaked face. Their crown, back, and rump are black with white streaks. They have a large white patch between the shoulders. Their tail is black with white edges and tips to the feathers. Their wings are black with white tips on the

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

and white edges on the flight feathers. Their throat, breast, and belly are white and their flanks and crissum grayer. Black streaks extend from the throat to the flanks and belly. Adult females have a buff face and cinnamon-rufous crown and nape with black streaks. Their breast and sides are buff and the rest of their underparts white with a buff tinge; their underparts have widespread thin black streaks.

Distribution and habitat

The Amazonian streaked antwren is found locally in eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela. From there its range extends south and east through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northern Bolivia and central Brazil to

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

and

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...

in the east and

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

in the south. There is also an apparently isolated population in Brazil's

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...

. It occurs almost entirely south of the Amazon River except in the lower reaches of the Rio Negro basin, a northern tributary. It inhabits the understorey and mid-storey of lowland

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zo ...

(primarily '' várzea'' and ''

igapó (, from Tupi language, Old Tupi: "root forest") is a word used in Brazil for Blackwater river, blackwater-flooded forests in the Amazon biome. These forests and similar swamp forests are seasonally inundated with freshwater. They typically occur ...

'') and shrubby

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. It occurs almost entirely near water, in thickets and vine tangles along rivers, streams, and oxbow lakes. In elevation it ranges from sea level to about but only to about in Colombia and Ecuador.

Behavior

Movement

The Amazonian streaked antwren is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The Amazonian streaked antwren feeds on

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s, especially insects and probably also spiders. It typically forages singly or in pairs and briefly, but seldom, joins

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. It mostly feeds between about above the ground or water. It actively seeks prey among leaves and vine tangles and along branches, gleaning by reaching, lunging, and with brief sallies from a perch.

Breeding

The Amazonian streaked antwren nests in Brazil between July and December; there are nesting records from Columbia in July and from Bolivia in June. Its nest is a cup or pouch of plant filaments and green moss with dried leaves on the outside, typically suspended from a fork about above water or the bank of a water feature. The clutch size is two eggs. Both parents incubate during the day and apparently only the female at night. The incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The Amazonian streaked antwren's song is a "short, musical, at start slightly rising rattle" that has been written as "pur-pur-peé-peé-peé-pur". Its calls include "an evenly pitched dry trill 'dr-r-r-r-r-r' ", a " 'chee-pu' contact call", and "a flat complaining note.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the Amazonian streaked antwren as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered fairly common in most of its range though uncommon and local in Ecuador. It occurs in several large protected areas and "its range has been little affected by development or human colonization".