The cryptic antthrush (''Chamaeza meruloides''), also known as Such's antthrush, 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 lightweigh ...

in the family

Formicariidae Formicariidae is a family of smallish passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as formicariids. They are between in length, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gnateaters, Conopophagidae. This ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. Although first described almost 200 years ago, it was long overlooked (hence, ''cryptic'') due to confusion with the rufous-tailed antthrush and short-tailed antthrush, which inhabit the same region.Willis, E. O. (1992). ''Three Chamaeza Antthrushes in eastern Brazil (Formicariidae).'' Condor 94: 110-116 The cryptic antthrush is mainly found at altitudes above the short-tailed antthrush, but below the rufous-tailed antthrush. When

Nicholas Aylward Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 17 ...

described this species in 1825, he based it on two

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository ...

s collected by George Such, and this is the reason for the other common name, Such's antthrush.

References

cryptic antthrush Birds of the Atlantic Forest Endemic birds of Brazil cryptic antthrush Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Formicariidae-stub