The collared crescentchest (''Melanopareia torquata'') is a species of

suboscine The Tyranni (suboscines) are a suborder of passerine birds that includes more than 1,000 species, a large majority of which are South American. It is named after the type genus '' Tyrannus''. These have a different anatomy of the syrinx musculat ...

passerine 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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird in the family

Melanopareiidae The crescentchests are a genus, ''Melanopareia'', of suboscine passerine birds from South America. The genus has long been placed with the tapaculos in the family Rhinocryptidae. Their placement there has been questioned and in 2007 the genus was ...

. It is found in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Taxonomy

The collared crescentchest was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1831 by the German naturalist

Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German explorer, ethnologist and natural history, naturalist. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815 and 1817, from which t ...

under the

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 ...

''Synallaxis torquatus''. The specific epithet is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning "collared". Wied-Neuwied specified the

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

as the "Campo Geral" of inner Brasil. This is the grassland on the border between the Brasilian states of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

and

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. The collared crescentchest is now one of four crescentchests placed in the genus '' Melanopareia'' that was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...

. Three

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 recognised: * ''M. t. torquata'' ( Wied-Neuwied, M, 1831) – east Brazil * ''M. t. rufescens''

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 – 24 February 1944) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete his degree. After his studies he worked in Vie ...

, 1924 – central Brazil and northeast Paraguay * ''M. t. bitorquata'' (

d'Orbigny Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropol ...

& Lafresnaye, 1837) – east Bolivia The subspecies ''M. t. bitorquata'' has sometimes been treated as a separate species, the double-collared crescentchest. The crescentchests (genus ''Melanopareia'') were at one time included in family Rhinocryptidae, the tapaculos. A 2010 publication confirmed earlier work and formally created the present family

Description

The collared crescentchest is long. Two unsexed specimens of ''M. t. rufescens'' weighed . The nominate subspecies' back and rump are brown and the underparts buff. The crown of the head is gray brown. It has a narrow white

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 ...

edged with black, a rufous "collar" on the back of the neck, and a black band across the breast. Subspecies ''M. t. rufescens'' is almost identical but its crown is reddish brown. Both sexes of collared crescentchest sing year round, usually from atop a low shrub. The song is "a series of 3-6 loud, resonant 'chip' notes". Its call is "a penetrating ''churr''".

Distribution and habitat

The collared crescentchest is found primarily in central Brazil but also occurs in far northeastern Paraguay. It inhabits

cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

, a biome characterized by a mix of savannah and woodlands. It prefers wetter open areas and avoids disturbed areas. In elevation it ranges up to .

Behavior

Feeding

The collared crescentchest's diet has not been described but the species is assumed to be

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

Breeding

Little is known about the collared crescentchest's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

. Its nest is a globe of dry grass and leaves placed near the ground. Two eggs are laid and both sexes incubate them and care for nestlings.

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 collared crescentchest as being of Least Concern. "Despite widespread degradation of cerrado habitat, the population of Collared Crescentchest is believed to be relatively stable throughout its large range."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1261563 collared crescentchest Birds of the Cerrado collared crescentchest Taxonomy articles created by Polbot