The ''stipplethroats'' are a South and Central American
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
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 ...
birds in the
antbird family Thamnophilidae. They were previously included in the genus ''
Myrmotherula
''Myrmotherula'' is a genus of insectivorous passerine birds in the antbird, antbird family, Thamnophilidae. These are all small antbirds, measuring .
The genus was erected by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858. The type species is the ...
'' as the "stipple-throated group".
Characteristics
Molecular studies show that the genus ''
Myrmotherula
''Myrmotherula'' is a genus of insectivorous passerine birds in the antbird, antbird family, Thamnophilidae. These are all small antbirds, measuring .
The genus was erected by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858. The type species is the ...
'' as then defined was
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...
. The stipple-throated members form a clade that is not a
sister clade
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
to any of the remaining members, and the genus ''Epinecrophylla'' has been erected to accommodate them. The stipple-throated species have a black and white (or buffy-white) stippled throat in one or both of the sexes. They also have a relatively long, plain-coloured tail. The fact that this clade is distinct from the remaining members of the ''Myrmotherula'' is reinforced by differences in song, foraging behaviour and nest-building.
[
]
Ecology
Members of the genus ''Epinecrophylla'' tend to specialise in extracting insects and spiders from dangling clusters of dead leaves, foraging in this way for more than 75% of the time. While foraging they have stereotyped methods of manipulating the leaves with their beaks and feet; by contrast, members of ''Myrmotherula'' tend to hunt for prey on the surfaces of leaves, stems, twigs, mosses and vines, and none of those birds specialise in and manipulate dead leaves, although they do sometimes probe them with their beaks.[
]
Species
The genus contains eight species:
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q946515