The southern bristle tyrant (''Pogonotriccus eximius'') is a

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 ...

species 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 ...

bird in the family

Tyrannidae The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a Family (biology), family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North America, North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is ...

, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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 ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The southern bristle tyrant was originally described as ''Pogonotriccus eximius''. The genus ''

Pogonotriccus ''Pogonotriccus'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. They are found in wooded habitats of Central America, Central and South America. Taxonomy The genus was erected by the German ornithologists Jean C ...

'' was later merged into genus ''

Phylloscartes ''Phylloscartes'' is a genus of small birds in the family Tyrannidae. They are found in wooded habitats of Central America, Central and South America. They mainly feed on small arthropods, and most commonly take part in mixed species flocks. The ...

''. Beginning in 2016 taxonomic systems resurrected ''Pogonotriccus'' for this species and a few others.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/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 June 1, 2023 The southern bristle tyrant is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Description

The southern bristle tyrant measures about 11 to 11.5 cm (4.3 to 4.5 in) in length; one male weighed 7.5 g (0.26 oz). Both sexes share the same plumage. Adults feature a gray crown and nape with an olive tint in the middle of the crown. A wide white streak at the lores narrows and becomes grayer over and past the eye to the nape. Their ear

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 yellow bisected by a wide black crescent. Their back, rump, and tail are bright olive. Their wings are dusky with yellowish olive edges on the flight feathers and wing coverts. Their chin, throat, and underparts are bright yellow with a light olive wash on the breast. Both sexes have a dark brown or dull red iris, a black

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

, a pinkish white

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

, and pale gray legs and feet.Tonetti, V. R. and M. A. Pizo (2022). Southern Bristle-Tyrant (''Pogonotriccus eximius''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (N. D. Sly, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sobtyr2.01.1 retrieved December 6, 2024

Distribution and habitat

The southern bristle tyrant is a bird of the Atlantic Forest. It is found from central

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

and western

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

states in Brazil south into northern

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

and west into eastern Paraguay and extreme northeastern Argentina's

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the Provinces of Argentina, 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil ...

. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid forest, especially near watercourses. It tends to frequent the forest's mid-level. Sources differ on its elevational range. The IUCN and van Perlo state an upper limit of . The

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

Birds of the World Birds of the World (BoW) is an online database of ornithological data adapted from the Handbook of the Birds of the World and contemporary reference works, including Birds of North America, Neotropical Birds Online, and Bird Families of the W ...

places it between about in the northern part of its range and down to at the far southern edges of it.

Behavior

Movement

The southern bristle tyrant is a year-round resident.

Feeding

The southern bristle tyrant's diet has not been detailed but it is known to feed on

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. It typically forages in the forest's mid-story, perching upright and making short upward sallies to snatch or hover-glean prey from vegetation. It is usually seen singly or in pairs and frequently joins

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

Breeding

The southern bristle tyrant's breeding season has not been fully defined but appears to span at least from July to October. Its nest is a globe with a short entrance tunnel near its top. It is made from live moss held together with spider web, lined with seed floss, and attached to a mossy tree trunk. The clutch is two eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The southern bristle tyrant's song is an "extr. high, energetic, strident, rattling 'vrrrrrjeh' trill" lasting one or two seconds.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the southern bristle tyrant as Near Threatened. Its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. "Agricultural conversion and deforestation for mining and plantation production historically threatened its lowland habitats. Current key threats are urbanisation, industrialisation, agricultural expansion, colonisation and associated road-building." The results of a study published in 2015 "indicated that the Southern Bristle-Tyrant may lose 40% of its potential distribution under scenarios of global warming".Tonetti, V. R. (2015). Densidade, Seleção de Micro-habitat e Distribuição de ''Phylloscartes eximius'' (Aves: Tyrannidae). M.S. thesis, Instituto de Biociências do Campus de Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, São Paulo, Brazil.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075169 southern bristle tyrant Birds of the Atlantic Forest southern bristle tyrant Taxonomy articles created by Polbot