The gnateaters are a bird

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 ...

, Conopophagidae, consisting of twelve small

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 ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in two

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, which occur in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Taxonomy

The family Conopophagidae was introduced in 1877 by the English zoologist

Alfred Henry Garrod Alfred Henry Garrod FRS (May 18, 1846 – October 17, 1879) was an English vertebrate zoologist. Garrod was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (1819–1907), a physician at King's College Hospital, who discove ...

. The family was formerly restricted to the gnateater genus ''Conopophaga'' but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 found that the genus ''Pittasoma'' in the family

Formicariidae Formicariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antthrushes. They are between in length, and are most closely related to the ovenbirds in the family Furnariidae, an ...

was

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to ''Conopophaga''. The association between this genus and ''Conopophaga'' is also supported by traits in their natural history,

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

, and vocalizations. The members of this family are very closely related to the

antbird 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 ...

s and less closely to the

antpitta Grallariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antpittas. They are between long, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gnateaters, Conopophagidae. Th ...

s and

tapaculo The tapaculos or tapacolos are a family, Rhinocryptidae, of small suboscine passerine birds, found mainly in South America and with the highest diversity in the Andean regions. Three species ( Chocó, Tacarcuna, and the silvery-fronted) are ...

s. Due to their remote and dim habitat, gnateaters are a little-studied and poorly known family of birds.

Description

They are round, short-tailed, and long-legged birds, about in length, with ''Pittasoma'' being larger than ''Conopophaga''. They are quite upright when standing. All species are

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, although the extent of this varies greatly. Most ''Conopophaga'' species have a white tuft behind the eye.

Distribution and habitat

Gnateaters are birds of the forest understory,

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

stands, and the forest floor. The members of the genus ''Conopophaga'' are found in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and Orinoco basins, east and central

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

slopes, Atlantic Forest, and nearby regions, while the members of the genus ''Pittasoma'' are found in the Chocó, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Some species live in impenetrable thickets; others live in more open forest. Most are entirely restricted to humid habitats, but several species extend into drier regions in eastern

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 ...

. While the members of the genus ''Conopophaga'' always are found near the forest floor, seldom rising more than 1.5 m above the ground, they also seldom travel or spend much time on the ground (though they do feed there; see diet). The members of the genus ''Pittasoma'' are more commonly seen hopping around on the ground.

Behaviour and ecology

Food and feeding

Gnateaters are

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 ...

as the group name implies. The members of the genus ''Conopophaga'' feed mostly using two methods; one is to perch above the forest floor until prey is spotted, then lunge down to the ground to snatch it; having landed on the ground to snatch a prey item it will not remain on the forest floor for more than a couple of seconds. The second method used is to glean insects directly from the foliage, trunks, and branches of low vegetation. Typical prey items include

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s, insect larvae,

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

s and

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s; individuals of some species have also been observed eating fruit and in one case a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

. Very little information is available on the diet of the two ''Pittasoma'', but they are presumably also

Species list

The family contains 12 species in two genera.

References

Cited sources

External links

Internet Bird Collection.com: Gnateater videos, photos and sounds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q840128 * * * Tyranni Taxa named by Philip Sclater Taxa named by Osbert Salvin