Great xenops

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Great xenops
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Furnariidae
Genus: Megaxenops
Reiser, 1905
Species:
M. parnaguae
Binomial name
Megaxenops parnaguae
Reiser, 1905

The great xenops (Megaxenops parnaguae) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to eastern Brazil.[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

The great xenops is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies.[2] It is only very distantly related to the members of genus Xenops and is instead sister to two species of genus Philydor.[3][4]

Description

The great xenops is 15 to 16 cm (5.9 to 6.3 in) long. It has a heavy, wedge-shaped, slightly upturned bill. The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults have a mostly light orange-rufous face with some blackish around the eye. Their forehead is pale but bright cinnamon-buff. Their crown and upperparts are unmarked bright rufous and their tail bright cinnamon-rufous. Their wing coverts are bright rufous, their primary coverts dull brownish, and their flight feathers bright orange-rufous with dark fuscous tips. Their throat and malar area are white and the rest of their underparts mostly light orange-rufous. Their flanks are slightly darker and their undertail coverts more rufous. Their iris is dark brown, their bill dusky brownish gray with a white base to the mandible, and their legs and feet dark gray to black.[5][6]

Distribution and habitat

The great xenops is found in a diagonal band from Piauí and Ceará states southwest through Tocantins and Bahia into Minas Gerais and Goiás. It inhabits the caatinga ecoregion and the semi-humid woodlands and forest within it. In elevation it ranges from 200 to 1,100 m (700 to 3,600 ft).[5][6]

Behavior

Movement

The great xenops is a year-round resident throughout its range.[5]

Feeding

The great xenops feeds on adult and larval arthropods including a variety of insects and spiders. It forages by itself and in pairs, and often (perhaps usually) joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It works its way along branches but does not use its tail for support while searching live and dead leaves and bark. It sometimes pulls or pries off bark.[5]

Breeding

Nothing is known about the great xenops' breeding biology.[5]

Dickcissel male perched on a metal pole singing, with neck stretched and beak open.

Songs and calls
Listen to great xenops on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The great xenops' song is a "long, very high, loud, nervous, unstructured series of chattering or liquid 'toc-toc-' and 'Wic-wic' notes, rising and falling with sudden crescendos".[6]

Status

The IUCN assessed the great xenops in 1988 as Threatened, then in 1994 as Vulnerable, and since 2004 as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. Its "populations are localised, and there has been rapid habitat loss in parts of its range...owing to conversion to irrigated and dry field agriculture, logging for charcoal production and intensive grazing".[1] It is considered rare to locally fairly common and occurs in several protected areas. "Deforestation has dramatically reduced populations, even to point of local extinction, in some parts of range." However, it "tolerates a certain degree of habitat degradation, including disturbance and heavy grazing, and [has been] observed to forage in burnt areas".[5]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2018). "Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22703001A130281058. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22703001A130281058.en. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Ovenbirds, woodcreepers". IOC World Bird List. v 13.2. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  3. ^ 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 May 31, 2023
  4. ^ Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2020). Great Xenops (Megaxenops parnaguae), 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.grexen1.01 retrieved August 26, 2023
  6. ^ a b c van Perlo, Ber (2009). A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-19-530155-7.
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