The straight-billed reedhaunter (''Limnoctites rectirostris'') is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

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 lightweig ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Furnariidae.

Taxonomy

Formerly it was placed in ''Limnornis'' with the

curve-billed reedhaunter The curve-billed reedhaunter (''Limnornis curvirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in marshy areas of north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Brazil, and Uruguay. It occupies a similar ecological niche to ...

(''Limnornis curvirostris'') which lives in the same general region and

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, and thus shares some adaptations with ''L. rectirostris''. But ''L. rectirostris'' is closer to the typical spinetails (''

Cranioleuca The typical spinetails, ''Cranioleuca'', are a genus of Neotropical birds in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. This is a homogeneous group of small birds that live in forested habitats. The spinetails in this genus differ from those placed in ' ...

'') than to the curve-billed reedhaunter, and is the

sister species 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 ...

of the sulphur-bearded reedhaunter.

Behaviour

As with many of its relatives, rather little is known about its reproductive habits. In southern Uruguay, a juvenile was observed in mid-January (i.e. midsummer).

Distribution and habitat

This bird is found in north-eastern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, south-eastern

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 ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. In its range, it is essentially limited to marshy areas in

pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Bra ...

and campos from coastal lowlands to highlands. In Brazil, it is found in Rio Grande do Sul and

Santa Catarina State Santa Catarina (, ) is a state in the South Region of Brazil. It is the 7th smallest state in total area and the 11th most populous. Additionally, it is the 9th largest settlement, with 295 municipalities. The state, with 3.4% of the Brazilia ...

s. In Argentina, it occurs in Entre Ríos and the extreme north-east of Buenos Aires Provinces. In Uruguay, it is limited to the eastern and southern part of the country. In recent years, it has been recorded in Cerro Largo, Canelones, Maldonado – where

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

found it in 1833 at Laguna José Ignacio and Laguna del Diario, where it can still be found –, Rocha,

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

and

Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Treinta y Tres. It is located in the east of the country, bordering the departments of Cerro Largo to the north, Durazno and Florida to the west, Lavalleja and Rocha to the south, w ...

s (especially at the

Quebrada de los Cuervos The Quebrada de los Cuervos ( Spanish for ''Crows Ravine'') is an important landform in Treinta y Tres Department, Uruguay. Crossed by the Yerbal Chico creek, it constitutes a natural protected area. This Important Bird Area (IBA) is inhabited ...

). From

Lavalleja Department Lavalleja () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Minas. It is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north by the department of Treinta y Tres to the east with Rocha, to the south with Canelones and Maldonado, and to ...

, there are only records from 1994, but the bird probably is still found there. This species prefers

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

y and swampy areas between

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

and 1,100 m

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. A key feature of prime habitat is an abundant growth of ''caraguata'' (spiny eryngos, ''

Eryngium ''Eryngium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species.Wang, P., et al. (2012)Phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activities of ''Eryngium'' L. (Apiaceae). ''Pharmaceutical Crops'' 3 99-120. Th ...

'' spp.), such as ''E. pandanifolium'' which it utilizes particularly in upland localities. It is sometimes claimed that the two

reedhaunters The reedhaunters are two species of marsh-dwelling Furnariid birds found in south-eastern Brazil, north-eastern Argentina and Uruguay. They occupy a similar ecological niche to some reed warblers. The two species are superficially similar, and o ...

differ in

microhabitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

preference, occurring sympatrically in the same region but not within the same locality, but this seems to be incorrect.

Status and conservation

The straight-billed reedhaunter may be common in suitable habitat, but globally its numbers are decreasing and is becoming rare due to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. Significant threats are

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

and the draining of wetlands, particularly for construction on the outskirts of larger towns. Invasive

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...

s (''Salix'' spp.) as well as

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

s of

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', '' Allo ...

(''Eucalyptus'' spp.) and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

(''Pinus'' spp.) are also detrimental to habitat quality. The species occurs in some

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s, such as Área Protegida Quebrada de los Cuervos in Uruguay's Treinta y Tres Department.Azpiroz & Menéndez (2008), BLI (2009)

Footnotes

References

* Accordi, Iury Almeida & Barcellos, André (2006): Composição da avifauna em oito áreas úmidas da Bacia Hidrográfica do Lago Guaíba, Rio Grande do Sul ird composition and conservation in eight wetlands of the hydrographic basin of Guaíba lake, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ''Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia'' 14 (2): 101-115 ortuguese with English abstractbr>PDf fulltext
* Azpiroz, Adrián B. & Menéndez, José L. (2008): Three new species and novel distributional data for birds in Uruguay. ''

Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club The ''Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club'' is an ornithological journal published by the British Ornithologists' Club (BOC). It is cited as ''Bull. B. O. C.'' Many descriptions of birds new to science have been published in the bull ...

'' 128 (1): 38–56. * Bencke, Glayson Ariel (2007): Avifauna atual do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil: aspectos biogeográficos e distribucionais The Recent avifauna of Rio Grande do Sul: Biogeographical and distributional aspects" Talk held on 2007-JUN-22 at ''Quaternário do RS: integrando conhecimento'', Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
PDF abstract
* Olson, Storrs L.; Irestedt, M.; Ericson, Per G.P. & Fjeldså, Jon (2005): Independent evolution of two Darwinian marsh-dwelling ovenbirds (Furnariidae: ''Limnornis, Limnoctites''). ''Ornitología Neotropical'' 16 (3): 347–359
PDF fulltext

External links

Photo
on

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professiona ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1038792

straight-billed reedhaunter The straight-billed reedhaunter (''Limnoctites rectirostris'') is a South American bird species in the family Furnariidae. Taxonomy Formerly it was placed in ''Limnornis'' with the curve-billed reedhaunter (''Limnornis curvirostris'') which li ...

Birds of Argentina Birds of the South Region Birds of Uruguay

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of the Atlantic Forest