Cabanis's spinetail (''Synallaxis cabanisi'') 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 found in

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 ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Cabanis's spinetail has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''S. c. cabanisi'' ( Berlepsch & Leverkühn, 1890) and ''S. c. fulviventris'' ( Chapman, 1924). Well into the twentieth century what is now McConnell's spinetail (''S. macconnelli'') was treated as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with Cabanis's spinetail. Genetic data published in 2011 supported that Cabanis's spinetail, McConnell's spinetail, and the dusky spinetail (''S. moesta'') form a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

group. However, data published in 2013 has evidence that the dusky spinetail might instead be more closely related to the rufous-capped spinetail (''S. ruficapilla'').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 26 November 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved November 27, 2023Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2020). Dusky Spinetail (''Synallaxis moesta''), 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.dusspi1.01 retrieved December 2, 2023Batalha-Filho, H., M. Irestedt, J. Fjeldså, P. G. P. Ericson, L. F. Silveira, and C. Y. Miyaki (2013) Molecular systematics and evolution of the ''Synallaxis ruficapilla'' complex (Aves: Furnariidae) in the Atlantic Forest. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 67: 86–94 The English name and

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 ...

of Cabanis's spinetail commemorate the German ornithologist

Jean Louis Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

Description

Cabanis's spinetail is long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a faint ochraceous chestnut streak behind the eye and a grayish white malar region on an otherwise sooty gray-brown face. Their crown and nape are dark rufous-chestnut; their back, rump and upperail

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 dark brown. Their wings are mostly rufous-chestnut with fuscous brown tips on the flight feathers. Their tail is dull chestnut; it is graduated and the feathers have pointed tips. Their chin and sides of their throat are brownish gray; the central throat feathers are blackish with grayish edges. Their underparts are mostly brownish gray with a slightly paler belly and a faint brown tinge on the flanks. Their iris is reddish brown to brown, their

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 ...

black, their

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 ...

silver to gray (sometimes with a blackish tip), and their legs and feet olive-gray to yellowish gray. Juveniles have a sooty gray-brown crown and nape and more grayish underparts than the nominate. Subspecies ''S. c. fulviventris'' is smaller than the nominate, with a whiter throat and much paler underparts; their breast is tawny-olive and the center of their belly is buff.Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2020). Cabanis's Spinetail (''Synallaxis cabanisi''), 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.cabspi1.01 retrieved December 3, 2023

Distribution and habitat

Cabanis's spinetail mostly a bird of the eastern foothills of the Andes. The nominate subspecies is found in central and southern Peru from the

Department of Huánuco Huánuco () is a Political division of Peru, department and region in central Peru. It is bordered by the La Libertad Region, La Libertad, San Martín Region, San Martín, Loreto Region, Loreto and Ucayali Region, Ucayali regions in the north, t ...

south into the

Department of Puno Puno () is a department and region in southeastern Peru. It is the fifth largest department in Peru, after Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It is bordered by Bolivia on the east, the departments of Madre de Dios on the north, Cusc ...

; it might also occur in the western part of the

Department of Ucayali Ucayali () is an inland department and region of Peru. Located in the Amazon rainforest, its name is derived from the Ucayali River. Its capital is the city of Pucallpa. It is the second largest department in Peru, after Loreto, and it is sl ...

. Subspecies ''S. c. fulviventris'' is found in the northern Bolivian departments of

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

, Beni, and

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

.Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 28, 2023 A disjunct population discovered in 1997 in west-central Brazil is currently (2023) assigned to the nominate subspecies but the 2013 publication suggests it belongs in the group of species related to the rufous-capped spinetail. Cabanis's spinetail inhabits the edges of lower montane and lowland evergreen forest,

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

, and riparian forest. It favors dense undergrowth and often occurs in thickets of ''

Guadua ''Guadua'' is a Neotropical genus of thorny, clumping bamboo in the grass family, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, '' Guadua angustifolia'' is noted for being the largest Neotropical bamboo. The genus is similar to ''Bam ...

'' bamboo or ''

Gynerium ''Gynerium'' is a monotypic genus of Neotropical plants in the grass family, native to Mexico and Colombia, Central America, South America, and the West Indies. It is classified in its own tribe Gynerieae. The sole species in the genus is ''Gy ...

'' cane. In elevation it occurs in a narrow band between about .

Behavior

Movement

Cabanis's spinetail is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The diet and foraging behavior of Cabanis's spinetail are not well known. It is thought 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 that it gleans from foliage and small branches, staying about above the ground. It is usually seen in pairs.

Breeding

Nothing is known about the breeding biology of Cabanis's spinetail.

Vocalization

The vocalizations of Cabanis's spinetail have not been fully evaluated. Remsen describes a " w nasal 'nyap' " made by the Peruvian and Bolivian populations, and states that it is probably a call and that the species' song has not been described. VanPerlo describes the song of the Brazilian population as a "hurried, chattered 'tjetjetjetjet--' " and its call a "low 'zic' ".

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 ...

originally in 2004 assessed Cabanis's spinetail as being of Least Concern, then in 2012 as Near Threatened, and since 2021 again as of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. "The primary threat to this species is accelerating deforestation in the Amazon Basin, as habitat is converted for cattle pastures and agricultural fields." It is poorly known and considered " common to fairly common, but local in distribution".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1267052

Cabanis's spinetail Cabanis's spinetail (''Synallaxis cabanisi'') is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics Cabanis's spinetail has two subspecies, the ...

Birds of the Peruvian Andes Birds of the Bolivian Andes

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot