The tepui wren (''Troglodytes rufulus'') 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

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 ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, 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 ...

, where it inhabits high tablelands called

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

s.Kroodsma, D. E., D. Brewer, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Tepui Wren (''Troglodytes rufulus''), 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.tepwre1.01 retrieved July 15, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The tepui wren has often been treated a subspecies of mountain wren (''Troglodytes solstitialis''). The South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

(SACC/AOS) considers those two, ochraceous wren (''T. achraceus''), rufous-browed wren (''T. rufociliatus''), and Santa Marta wren (''T. monticola'') to be a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021 The tepui wren has six subspecies: *''T. r. rufulus''

Cabanis Cabanis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernard Cabanis (born 1950), French ice hockey player * George Cabanis (1815–1892), American politician * James Cabanis (1838–1920), American politician, son of George Cabanis *Jea ...

(1849) *''T. r. fulvigularis'' Zimmer & Phelps (1945) *''T. r. yavii'' Phelps & Phelps Jr. (1949) *''T. r. duidae'' Chapman (1929) *''T. r. wetmorei'' Phelps & Phelps Jr. (1955) *''T. r. marahuacae'' Phelps Jr. & Aveledo (1984)

Description

The nominate subspecies of tepui wren is long and weighs . The adult's crown and upperparts are chestnut brown that is slightly redder on the lower back and rump. Its tail is dark reddish brown with thin blackish bars. It has a yellowish buff

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

and a dark brown streak behind the eye. The throat and breast are yellowish buff; the sides, flanks, and lower belly are reddish brown; and the vent area is buffy brown with dark brown bars. The juvenile is darker with scaly underparts. ''T. r. fulvigularis'' is darker and less reddish than the nominate. ''T. r. yavii'' has white underparts. ''T. r. duidae'' has whitish underparts and the bars on its tail are more pronounced. ''T. r. wetmorei'' is the most similar to the nominate, differing only by having gray central underparts. ''T. r. marahuacae'' is similar to ''wetmorei'' but is smaller and the entire belly is gray.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of tepui wren are distributed thus: *''T. r. rufulus'',

Mount Roraima Mount Roraima (; ) is the highest of the Pacaraima chain of tepuis (table-top mountain) or plateaux in South America. It is located at the junction of Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela. A characteristic large flat-topped mountain surrounded by cliff ...

and Uei-tepui at the Venezuela-Guyana-Brazil border *''T. r. fulvigularis'', southeastern Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela *''T. r. yavii'', northern Amazonas state, south central Venezuela *''T. r. duidae'', central Amazonas and southern Bolívar states, southern Venezuela *''T. r. wetmorei'',

Cerro de la Neblina Cerro de la Neblina (lit. "Mountain of the Mist"), also known as Serra da Neblina in Brazil and Sierra de la Neblina in Venezuela, is a sandstone massif located in the northern Amazon Basin. It is a tilted, heavily eroded plateau, with a deep can ...

in southern Amazonas state, venezuela, and perhaps adjoining northern Brazil *''T. r. marahuacae'', central Amazonas state, southern Venezuela The tepui wren inhabits humid forest, forest edges, and bushland on isolated flat-topped mountains called tepuis. In elevation it ranges from but is mostly found in the narrower band between .

Behavior

Feeding

The tepui wren primarily forages on the ground or in low vegetation. Its diet has not been documented.

Breeding

No information about the tepui 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 ...

has been published.

Vocalization

The tepui wren's song is "a series of high, thin whistled twitters" that may run together or be in separate phrases.

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 tepui wren as being of Least Concern. Though its population has not been quantified, it is locally common and many of the inhabited tepuis are protected preserves.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q627174 tepui wren Birds of the Tepuis tepui wren Taxonomy articles created by Polbot