The great xenops (''Megaxenops parnaguae'') is a species of

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 ...

in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird

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 ...

Furnariidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to 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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The great xenops is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies. It is only very distantly related to the members of genus ''

Xenops ''Xenops'' is a genus in the bird family Furnariidae, the Ovenbird (family), ovenbirds. The genus comprises four species of xenops, all of which are found in Mexico, Central America and South America, particularly in tropical rain forests. They ...

'' and is instead

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 two species of genus ''

Philydor ''Philydor'' is a genus of foliage-gleaners, birds in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Philydor'' was introduced in 1824 by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix. The type species was subsequently designated as ''A ...

''.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 31, 2023Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986.

Description

The great xenops is long. It has a heavy, wedge-shaped, slightly upturned bill. The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults have a mostly light orange-rufous face with some blackish around the eye. Their forehead is pale but bright cinnamon-buff. Their crown and upperparts are unmarked bright rufous and their tail bright cinnamon-rufous. Their wing

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

are bright rufous, their

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

coverts dull brownish, and their flight feathers bright orange-rufous with dark

fuscous {{Short pages monitor