Fasciated antshrike
The fasciated antshrike is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Central America from Honduras south and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Taxonomy and systematics
The fasciated antshrike has three subspecies, the nominate C. l. lineatus , C. l. fasciatus, and C. l. intermedius. What is now the bamboo antshrike was considered another subspecies of it until the 1980s. The two are the only species in genus Cymbilaimus.Description
The fasciated antshrike is long and weighs. This species exhibits significant sexual dimorphism. Both sexes of all subspecies have a red iris and a heavy bill with a hook at the end like true shrikes. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a black forehead and crown with a few very thin white bars. The rest of their plumage is thin black and white bars. Females have a rufous crown. Most of the rest of their plumage is thin dark brown and pale yellowish brown bars; their tail is barred with dark brown and pale buff. Subadult males resemble adults but with wider white bars. Males of subspecies C. l. fasciatus have strong black and white bars on the forehead that contrast with the all-black crown. Females have brown and cinnamon bars on their tail. C. l. intermedius is similar to fasciatus but with wider pale bars on its tail. The plumages of these last two vary individually and with age which produces overlap between them.Distribution and habitat
The fasciated antshrike has a disjunct distribution. Subspecies C. l. fasciatus is the northernmost, and its range is separate from the larger area shared by the other two. It is found from El Paraíso Department in southeastern Honduras, south through Nicaragua and Costa Rica on the Caribbean slope, and through Panama on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes though locally in the latter. Its range continues into Colombia's Magdalena River Valley, east into northwestern Venezuela, and south along the Pacific slope into northwestern Ecuador as far as northern Los Ríos Province. Subspecies C. l. intermedius is found from southern Colombia and Venezuela south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into Bolivia and from that western limit east into northwestern and southern Amazonian Brazil as far as Tocantins and Goiás. The nominate subspecies C. l. lineatus is found from eastern Bolívar state in Venezuela east through Guyana and Suriname into French Guiana and south into Amazonian Brazil north of the Amazon between the Branco and Negro rivers.The fasciated antshrike inhabits evergreen forest both primary and secondary in the lowlands and Andean foothills. In Central America it tends to be in second growth and thickets rather than the forest interior. Elsewhere it does occur in the forest interior but also frequents the forest edge. In all areas it favors vine tangles and dense mid-storey vegetation. In elevation it occurs below in Honduras; in most of the rest of its range it occurs below. It reaches in Brazil and Costa Rica, in Colombia, in Ecuador and Peru, and in Venezuela. The ranges of the fasciated and bamboo antshrikes overlap but the bamboo generally occurs at higher elevations than the fasciated.