The cactus canastero (''Pseudasthenes cactorum'') 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 the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Furnariidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The cactus canastero was long placed in genus ''

Asthenes Canasteros and thistletails are small passerine birds of South America belonging to the genus ''Asthenes''. The name "canastero" comes from Spanish language, Spanish and means "basket-maker", referring to the large, domed nests these species mak ...

''. Beginning in 2010 it and three other members of ''Asthenes'' were moved to the newly coined genus ''

Pseudasthenes ''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 ...

''.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 Beyond that move, its taxonomy is unsettled. The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

'' treat it as

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 ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022 The

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

assigns it two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''P. c. cactorum'' ( Koepcke, 1959) and ''P. c. lachayensis'' (Keopcke, 1965).Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 28, 2023 However, the two putative taxa "appear to be products of

clinal variation In biology, a cline is a measurable gradient in a single characteristic (or biological trait) of a species across its geographical range. Clines usually have a genetic (e.g. allele frequency, blood type), or phenotypic (e.g. body size, skin pig ...

combined with differences in degree of plumage wear, and described characters do not permit diagnosis of individual specimens".Remsen, Jr., J. V. and E. de Juana (2020). Cactus Canastero (''Pseudasthenes cactorum''), 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.caccan1.01 retrieved November 17, 2023 This article follows the monotypic species model.

Description

The cactus canastero is long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a pale buff

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

, fuscous lores and stripe behind the eye, and dull buff ear

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 ...

. Their crown and upperparts are uniform plain dull brown. Their wing coverts are mostly dull rufous and their flight feathers dull fuscous with a rufous patch that shows as a band on the closed wing. Their tail's central pair of feathers are brown, the next two pairs dull dark fuscous with tawny edges on the outer webs, the next pair rufous with dark fuscous edges near their base, and the outer two pairs almost entirely rufous. Their chin and center of their throat are pale orange-tawny; their breast and the rest of their underparts are pale buff. Their iris is brown, their

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

black to gray, their

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

blue-gray with a blackish tip, and their legs and feet gray-brown to black.

Distribution and habitat

The cactus canastero is found on the west slope of the Andes in Peru, in the

Department of La Libertad La Libertad (; in English language, English: ''The Liberty'') is a Regions of Peru, department and Regional Government of La Libertad, region in northwestern Peru. Formerly it was known as the Department of La Libertad ('). It is bordered by the L ...

and then from the

Department of Lima The Department of Lima (), known as the Department of the Capital () until 1823, is a department and region located in the central coast of Peru; the seat of the regional government is Huacho. Lima Province, which contains the city of Lima, ...

south to the

Department of Arequipa Arequipa () is a department and region in southwestern Peru. It is the sixth largest department in Peru, after Puno, Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto, its sixth most populous department, and its eleventh least densely populated dep ...

. It inhabits arid montane scrublands with scattered bushes and columnar cacti. In elevation it ranges between .

Behavior

Movement

The cactus canastero is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

Little is known about the diet or feeding behavior of the cactus canastero. It is usually seen singly or in pairs and is believed to glean

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 from the ground, rocks, cacti, and maybe low vegetation.

Breeding

The cactus canastero breeds in the austral spring and summer. It is thought to be monogamous and nests in columnar cacti. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The cactus canastero's song is "a weak, dry trill lasting up to 6 seconds" and its call a "low-pitched, fast, dry trill" that is often repeated.

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 cactus canastero as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is poorly known and considered uncommon. Its " bitat is subjected to at least moderate overgrazing".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1262642 cactus canastero Birds of the Peruvian Andes Endemic birds of Peru cactus canastero Taxonomy articles created by Polbot