The southern nightingale-wren (''Microcerculus marginatus''), also known as the scaly-breasted wren, 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 family Troglodytidae. It is found in

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Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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, and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019

Taxonomy and systematics

The southern nightingale-wren forms a species pair with the northern nightingale-wren (''Microcerculus philomela'') and was in the past considered conspecific with it. It is currently treated as a species in its own right by the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC) and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

, though under different English names. The southern nightingale-wren has the six subspecies listed below. Subspecies ''M. m. luscinia'' is treated by some taxonomists as a separate species. The nominate subspecies ''M. m. marginatus'' is also sometimes considered a separate species or even two species divided by the Amazon River.Kroodsma, D. E. and D. Brewer (2020). Scaly-breasted Wren (''Microcerculus marginatus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.scbwre1.01 retrieved July 18, 2021 The southern nightingale-wren's subspecies are: *''M. m. luscinia'' Salvin (1866) *''M. m. corrasus''

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(1902) *''M. m. squamulatus''

Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society ...

& Salvin (1875) *''M. m. occidentalis''

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 – 24 February 1944) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete his degree. After his studies he worked in Vie ...

(1906) *''M. m. taeniatus'' Salvin (1881) *''M. m. marginatus'' Sclater (1855)

Description

The southern nightingale-wren is long; males weigh and females . Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dull gray-brown face and deep chocolate-brown crown and upperparts with a reddish tinge on the rump. They have a very short dark chocolate tail. Their chin, chest, and upper belly are white with some black scalloping on the sides of the chest. The lower flanks and lower belly are dark chocolate. The juvenile is similar with the addition of darkish barring on the crown and back and dark brown feather tips on the underside. ''M. m. squamulatus'' is similar to the nominate but has scaly markings on the underparts. ''M. m. taeniatus'' also has scaly underparts and a more extensive reddish tinge on the upperparts and blackish barring below. ''M. m. corrasus'' is also similar to the nominate, but is a purer white below with narrow dark bars. ''M. m. occidentalis'' has a longer and thinner bill, darker upperparts and flanks, and broad dark bars on its abdomen. ''M. m. luscinia''s throat is pale gray that becomes brownish gray on the breast and belly.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of southern nightingale-wren are found thus: *''M. m. luscinia'', central Costa Rica to Panama's eastern Darién Province *''M. m. corrasus'',

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

region of northern Colombia *''M. m. squamulatus'', northern Colombia except Santa Marta into northern Venezuela *''M. m. occidentalis'', western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador *''M. m. taeniatus'', western Ecuador *''M. m. marginatus'', throughout

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainf ...

, from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia to near the mouth of the river in Brazil The southern nightingale-wren inhabits the lower levels of dense humid

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

. It has been recorded from sea level to in Costa Rica, to in Colombia, and to in Venezuela. There is also one record in Panama at .

Behavior

Feeding

The southern nightingale-wren usually forages alone, on the ground and low in the understory. Little is known about its diet. It has been observed following

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swarms in Central America but apparently does not do so routinely.

Breeding

Most of the data on the southern nightingale-wren's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

was recorded in Panama. Reports of active nests, fledged young, and adults in breeding condition indicate almost year-round breeding activity. Two nests have been described; they were constructed of leaves at the end of burrows that were probably excavated by other species of birds. One had two eggs and the other three.

Vocalization

The songs of the southern nightingale-wren differ geographically. Those in Central America to western Amazonia are long complex series of short notes followed by several whistles. Those in Peru and Bolivia are " clear, pure notes given at random" with varying pitch, length, and volume.

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 nightingale-wren as being of Least Concern. It "appears to be well distributed in much of its range" and occurs in several preserves and national parks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2667984 Microcerculus Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of Colombia Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Ecuador Birds of Panama Birds described in 1855 Taxa named by Philip Sclater Taxonomy articles created by Polbot