The slaty-backed jungle flycatcher (''Vauriella goodfellowi''), also known as the Goodfellow's jungle flycatcher or the Mindanao jungle flycatcher is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

. 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 the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

found only on the island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

honours the British zoological collector

Walter Goodfellow Walter Goodfellow (1866–1953) was a British zoological collector and ornithologist. Career Goodfellow began his career as a wildlife collector by collecting specimens for museums, but later concentrated on capturing live birds for private aviar ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

is tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Description and taxonomy

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

describes the bird as "A medium-sized bird of mossy montane forest understory on Mindanao. Large for a flycatcher. Dark brown above, with pale gray-brown chest and sides and a white throat and belly. Note the white spectacles and forehead with a thin black eye-ring and black line connecting the eye and bill. Somewhat similar to Chestnut-tailed Flycatcher, but found at higher elevations and has obvious black-and-white lines in front of the eye. Voice includes high-pitched metallic whistles and a sharp “tsik!”" This species was previously placed in the

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 ...

''Rhinomyias'' but was moved to ''

Vauriella ''Vauriella'' is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in Borneo and the Philippines. The species were previously placed in the genus ''Rhinomyias'' but were moved to ''Vauriella'' when a detailed molecular ...

'' along with the

White-browed jungle flycatcher The white-browed jungle flycatcher (''Vauriella insignis''), also known as the Luzon jungle-flycatcher and the Rusty-flanked jungle-flycatcher, is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to Luzon island, i ...

of Luzon, the

White-throated jungle flycatcher The white-throated jungle flycatcher (''Vauriella albigularis''), also known as the Negros jungle flycatcher is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Philippines (Negros and Panay islands) and for ...

of West Visayas and the

Eyebrowed jungle flycatcher The eyebrowed jungle flycatcher (''Vauriella gularis'') is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the island of Borneo (elevated areas, including the Meratus Mountains). The natural habitat of the ey ...

of Borneo after a detailed

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2010 found that ''Rhinomyias'' 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 ...

Ecology and behavior

Not much information of its diet in the wild but includes small invertebrates. Forages silently close to the forest floor, typically along forest edge. Birds in breeding condition and fledged young seen from February to October. No published comprehensive information at all about its breeding habits but this species is currently being studied by the Robert S. Kennedy Bird Conservancy and nests have been recorded in July.

Habitat and conservation status

It occupies montane mossy forest above 1,000 meters above sea level where they are seen usually solitary o in pairs. It is unobtrusive as it typically sits motionless on the forest understorey usually close to the ground. IUCN has assessed this bird as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

and the population is believed to be declining. It is rare within its range but may possibly be overlooked due to its sedentary habits. Its main threat is

through deforestation, mining,

land conversion Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpo ...

and

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

. It is found in multiple protected areas such as

Mount Apo Mount Apo is the highest mountain peak in the Philippines, with an elevation of above sea level. A large solfataric, dormant stratovolcano, it is part of the Apo-Talomo Mountain Range of Mindanao island. Apo is situated on the tripartite b ...

and

Kitanglad Mountain Range The Kitanglad Mountain Range dominates the northern central portion of the province of Bukidnon, Philippines. It occupies portions of eight of the municipalities and cities in the province such as Talakag, Baungon, Libona, Manolo Fortich, Impa ...

but like all areas in the Philippines protection is lax. There are no species specific conservation plans at the moment but conservation actions proposed by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

are to do surveys to better understand population and range and to better protect its habitat.

References

slaty-backed jungle flycatcher The slaty-backed jungle flycatcher (''Vauriella goodfellowi''), also known as the Goodfellow's jungle flycatcher or the Mindanao jungle flycatcher is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Philippi ...

Birds of Mindanao

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapidae-stub Endemic birds of the Philippines