Apurímac Spinetail

The Apurimac spinetail (''Synallaxis courseni'') is a Vulnerable species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Peru.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Apurimac spinetail was thought to be most closely related to the slaty spinetail (''S. brachyura''.Blake, E.R. (1971). A new species of spinetail (''Synallaxis'') from Peru. Auk. 88(1): 179 By the late twentieth century it was considered more closely related to Azara's spinetail (''S. azarae'') and a study published in 2011 confirmed that. Some authors have suggested that it is best treated as a subspecies of Azara's spinetail.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, 2023Lloyd, H. (2020). Apurimac Spinetail (''Synallaxis courseni''), 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.apuspi1.01 retrieved December 6, 2023Derryberry, 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

Blake, who first described the Apurimac spinetail, chose its specific epithet ''courseni'' to honor C. Blair Coursen, "whose interest in neotropical birds and timely generosity in support of field work have resulted in important Peruvian collections" from which the holotype came.

The Apurimac spinetail is monotypic.

Description

The Apurimac spinetail is long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a pale gray supercilium on an otherwise dark gray face. Their forecrown is dark gray, their hindcrown and nape dark rufous, and their back, rump and uppertail coverts dark gray with a faint olivaceous tinge. Their wings are rufous with dark brown tips on the flight feathers. Their tail is dark sooty brown with a hint of rufous; the tail is very long and graduated, and the feathers have slightly pointed tips. Their throat is sooty black with pale gray edges to the feathers. Their breast, belly, and undertail coverts are dark gray; their flanks are dark gray with a faint olivaceous wash. Their iris is dark chestnut, their maxilla black or dark gray, their mandible bluish gray with a black tip, and their legs and feet dark gray.

Distribution and habitat

The Apurimac spinetail has a very small range in south-central Peru, on the slopes of Ampay, a large mountain southwest of the Apurimac River. Much, but not all, of its known area of occurrence is within Ampay National Sanctuary. It inhabits cloudforest, humid ''Podocarpus'' forest, and regrowing vegetation in clearings and landslide scars. It favors dense understory and stands of ''Chusquea'' bamboo. In elevation it occurs between .

Behavior

Movement

The Apurimac spinetail is not known to make any latitudinal or elevational movements.

Feeding

The Apurimac spinetail feeds on arthropods, though details of its diet are lacking. It typically forages singly or in pairs and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It gleans prey from moss, lichen, small branches, and foliage, typically in dense cover near or on the ground.

Breeding

Immature Apurimac spinetails have been seen in March but nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The Apurimac's spinetail's song is essentially the same as that of Azara's spinetail, a "sharp nasal-like ''keet-kweet''" that is often repeated for minutes at a time. An apparent contact call is "a low chatter" and it also makes a "low-pitched, guttural/squeeky or churring trill".

Status

The IUCN originally in 1988 assessed the Apurimac spinetail as Threatened and since 1994 has rated it Vulnerable. It has a very small range; its estimated population of 600 to 1700 mature individuals is believed to be stable. "''Podocarpus'' trees continue to be cut on the Nevada Ampay. Large numbers of people visit the mpay National Sanctuary..and disturbance is considerable. Grazing is an additional threat, with livestock farming commonplace even inside the protected area." It is commonly found in at least one highly fragmented forest, "indicating that the species may be tolerant, to a degree, of anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and degradation".

Notes

References

External links

BirdLife International Species Factsheet

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1921950

Apurímac spinetail
Birds of the Peruvian Andes
Endemic birds of Peru
Apurímac spinetail
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot