The chapada flycatcher (''Guyramemua affine'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Tyrannidae The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most diver ...

, the

tyrant flycatcher The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most diver ...

s. It is placed in its own genus, ''Guyramemua''.

Taxonomy

The chapada flycatcher, scientifically known as the Guyramemua Affinis, is a part of the Animalia kingdom, falling under the Chordata phylum as a part of the Aves class. The chapada flycatcher is in the

Passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

order, which is included in the Tyrannidae family. The chapada flycatcher further falls in the genus Guyramemua. This species was formerly placed in the genus '' Suiriri''. It was moved to its own newly erected genus, ''Guyramemua'', based on a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2017. Another common name for the chapada flycatcher is the chapada suiriri.

Description

The chapada flycatcher is a medium-sized bird with a greyish head, olive green back, and a yellow belly. They have white wings, with a darker tail, and their legs are a medium greyish color. Their tail is short and broad, but proportional to their bodies. They eat mainly insects and fruit from the upper branches of the trees, but only fruit when it can find some. Male and female chapada flycatchers sound different from one another. The male chirps a loud series of two couplets. When made to sound like the English language it sounds something like "where where, whooz it". The female has more of a loud bubbly rattle, with a variable length. This sounds more like "whur". They usually will chirp this one or two notes at a time. These species are known to be neotropical songbirds with specific characteristics when it comes to behavior, their habitat, and ecological traits. Because they have very specific characteristics, it is often hard for them to adapt to the world around them. These characteristics are increasing their likelihood of extinction. This species is not often found on the ground or in shrubs. They prey from up in the trees, where they sit in the branches and observe, and search for food. Therefore, they are most commonly found in trees sitting on branches.

Distribution and habitat

The chapada flycatcher is a South American terrestrial species and native resident of south-western

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and eastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. It is found in the

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are ...

of south-central Brazil and adjacent far eastern

. Other places it typically resides are Campo Cerrado and Campo Sujo. More specifically, they are seen in

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins 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 2 ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighborin ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, a ...

, and in the adjacent parts of eastern Bolivia. Chapada flycatchers are found in closed shrubby areas that have lots of grass dispersed with tall trees. The chapada flycatcher is accustomed to the dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

habitat and

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It ...

s. To be more exact, the chapada flycatcher is most accustomed to cerrado areas with upper elevation limits of 750 meters and lower elevation limits of 250 meters. Typically, a generation of chapada flycatchers lasts 3.6 years. They have no recorded movement patterns as they do not participate in migration.

Status and conservation

The first time the chapada flycatcher was included on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

was 2004; at that time, it was considered a species of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

. By 2009, however, its status had been uplisted to

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

, as annual surveys in part of its core range showed dramatic declines of more than 30% over an 11-year period. The reasons for the decline are not well understood, but there are some known threats to chapada flycatchers. When it comes to residential and commercial development, housing and urban areas pose threats due to their natural habitat being torn down to build these structures. Agriculturally, annual and perennial non-timber crops create threats for the chapada flycatchers. This includes wood and pulp plantations as well. Livestock farming and ranching also pose a threat to chapada flycatchers as it disrupts their normal habitat and the resources that are found in this habitat. Lastly, fires and fire suppression cause threats towards the chapada flycatcher. Even with a combination of its decreasing population and lengthy threats, there is no action recovery plan nor systematic monitoring scheme in place for the chapada flycatcher.

References

Chapada Flycatcher.
Arthurgrosset.com. Accessed 2009-02-02.

External links