The red-throated ant tanager (''Driophlox fuscicauda'') is a medium-sized

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 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 ...

. This

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), ...

is a resident breeder on the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

slopes from southeastern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to eastern

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 ...

. It was formerly placed with the red-crowned ant tanager in the genus ''Habia''. It was usually considered an aberrant kind of

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

and placed in the Thraupidae, but is actually closer to the cardinals (

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant tanagers is misleading, but no other

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

has gained usage. Red-throated ant tanagers are long and weigh . Adult males are dull dusky red, somewhat paler below, and with a bright red throat and central crown. The female is brownish olive, paler and greyer below, and with a yellow throat and small dull yellow crown stripe. Young birds are brown and lack the throat and crown patches. Both sexes of this species are duller and darker than the related red-crowned ant tanager which occurs on the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

slope in its

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 ...

n range. It occurs in thick undergrowth at the edge of forest, second growth or abandoned plantations at altitudes from sea level to . The large but untidy

cup nest A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian bl ...

is usually built high in the fork of a shrub or tree, and is often decorated with living

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s. The normal clutch is two or three white eggs laid from April to June. These birds are found in pairs or small groups. They eat

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

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 and fruit like those of ''

Cymbopetalum mayanum ''Cymbopetalum mayanum'' is a species of plant in family Annonaceae. The specific epithet ''mayanum'' refers to the Mayan region in which it is indigenous, specifically the Atlantic lowlands of Guatemala and Honduras. It grows as a tree, an ...

'' (

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

), and less often ''

Trophis racemosa ''Trophis racemosa'', commonly named white ramoon, is a species of plant of the fig family native to Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish lan ...

'' (

Moraceae Moraceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 48 genera and over 1100 species, and is commonly known as the mulberry or fig family. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their ...

), and will follow

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...

columns especially in lowlands where

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 are uncommon. The flock will give a defensive spread-wing-and-tail display to deter potential predators. Six subspecies are recognised: * ''D. f. salvini'' ( Berlepsch, 1883) – east Mexico to south Guatemala, El Salvador,

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and Honduras * ''D. f. insularis'' ( Salvin, 1888) –

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

(southeast Mexico) and north Guatemala * ''D. f. discolor'' ( Ridgway, 1901) – northeast, central, east Nicaragua * ''D. f. fuscicauda'' (

Cabanis Cabanis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernard Cabanis (born 1950), French ice hockey player * George Cabanis (1815–1892), American politician * James Cabanis (1838–1920), American politician, son of George Cabanis *Jea ...

, 1861) – south Nicaragua to west Panama * ''D. f. willisi'' (

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

, 1969) – central Panama * ''D. f. erythrolaema'' ( Sclater, PL, 1862) – north Colombia

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1588596

red-throated ant tanager The red-throated ant tanager (''Driophlox fuscicauda'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. This species is a resident breeder on the Caribbean slopes from southeastern Mexico to eastern Panama. It was formerly placed with the red-crowned ant tana ...

Birds of Central America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Colombia