Grey-headed tanager
The grey-headed tanager is a widely distributed species of small Neotropical bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Eucometis.
It is found in Central America and northern South America from Mexico to Brazil.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or [tropical moist lowland forest], subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest.
Taxonomy
The grey-headed tanager was formally described in 1825 by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix under the binomial name Tanagra penicillata. Spix did not specify a type [locality (biology)|type locality] but this was later designated as Fonte Boa in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The grey-headed tanager is now the only species placed in the genus Eucometis that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1856. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek eukomēs meaning "with lovely hair". The specific epithet penicillata is from the Latin diminutive of peniculus meaning "brush".Within the Thraupidae, the grey-headed tanager is a member of the subfamily Tachyphoninae and is the sister species to the black-goggled tanager in the monospecific genus Trichothraupis.
Seven subspecies are recognised:E. p. pallida Berlepsch, 1888 – southeast Mexico to HondurasE. p. spodocephalus – Nicaragua and north Costa RicaE. p. stictothorax Berlepsch, 1888 – west-central Costa Rica to west PanamaE. p. cristata – east Panama, north Colombia, and northwest VenezuelaE. p. affinis Berlepsch, 1888 – north VenezuelaE. p. penicillata – southeast Colombia, east Ecuador, and east Peru east through the Guianas and north BrazilE. p. albicollis – Bolivia and Paraguay through central Brazil