Ochre-throated foliage-gleaner
The ochre-throated foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Panama and every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Taxonomy and systematics
The ochre-throated foliage-gleaner's taxonomy is unsettled. Until July 2023 the International Ornithological Committee called A. ochrolaemus the buff-throated foliage gleaner and assigned it these six subspecies:- A. o. cervinigularis
- A. o. hypophaeus Ridgway, 1909
- A. o. pallidigularis Lawrence, 1862
- A. o. turdinus
- A. o. ochrolaemus
- A. o. auricularis Zimmer, JT, 1935
In July 2023 the IOC split A. o. cervinigularis and A. o. hypophaeus from the buff-throated to form the new species fawn-throated foliage-gleaner, which by the principle of priority took the binomial A. cervinigularis. The IOC renamed the remaining four subspecies the ochre-throated foliage-gleaner to avoid confusion with the former, larger, buff-throated species. It retains the former binomial A. ochrolaemus. In October 2023 the Clements taxonomy accepted the same split and deleted A. o. amusos entirely. The other systems retain their own versions of the previous seven-subspecies buff-throated foliage-gleaner
This article follows the four-subspecies model.
Description
The ochre-throated foliage-gleaner is long and weighs. It is a fairly large member of its genus and has a shortish and heavy bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. o. ochrolaemus have a mostly dark brownish face with a bold buff eyering and stripe behind the eye, faint reddish streaks on the ear coverts, and an ochraceous-buff malar area with faint dark flecks. Their crown and nape are dark brown with a faint blackish brown scallop pattern. Their back and rump are rich dark brown that blends to dark chestnut uppertail coverts. Their wing coverts are rich dark brown and their flight feathers slightly paler and more rufescent. Their tail is dark chestnut. Their throat is deep buff, their breast is streaked with medium brown and ochraceous buff, and their belly is brown. Their flanks are a darker and more rufescent brown and their undertail coverts dull chestnut. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their maxilla blackish horn, gray, or horn brown, their mandible greenish buff to gray, and their legs and feet olive, greenish brown, or greenish gray. Juveniles are slightly duller than adults, with a less obvious eyering, a rufous tinge to the face, a chestnut tinge to the crown, and slightly mottled throat and breast.The ochre-throated foliage-gleaner subspecies A. o. pallidigularis is the palest and dullest, with a nearly white throat and dull brown underparts that have no ochraceous tinge. A. o. auricularis is larger and duller than the nominate. Its back is more grayish olive and its underparts paler with less streaking. A. o. turdinus has a paler throat and slightly less ochraceous underparts than the nominate. Its underparts are intermediate in tone and markings between the nominate and auricularis.
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the ochre-throated foliage-gleaner are found thus:- A. o. pallidigularis: Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena
- A. o. turdinus: from southeastern Colombia east through southern Venezuela and the Guianas to the Atlantic and south through eastern Ecuador into northeastern Peru and northwestern Brazil north of the Amazon
- A. o. ochrolaemus: south of the Amazon in eastern Peru, western Brazil, and central Bolivia
- A. o. auricularis: central Brazil south of the Amazon between the Rio Purus and Pará state and south into northeastern Bolivia