Trilling gnatwren
The trilling gnatwren, formerly long-billed gnatwren, is a very small bird in the gnatcatcher family. It found from southeast Mexico south to Ecuador and Amazonia.
Taxonomy
The trilling gnatwren was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1819 from a specimen collected in Brazil. He coined the binomial name Ramphocaenus melanurus. The genus name Ramphocaenus means "unusual beak", from the Ancient Greek ' and '. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek melas "black" and oura "tail". A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that two subspecies of Ramphocaenus melanurus formed a separate clade. The subspecies were split off to become the chattering gnatwren and the English name of this species was changed from "long-billed gnatwren" to "trilling gnatwren".Thirteen subspecies are recognised:R. m. rufiventris – south Mexico to west EcuadorR. m. ardeleo Van Tyne & Trautman, 1941 – Yucatán Peninsula and north GuatemalaR. m. panamensis Phillips, AR, 1991 – central and east PanamaR. m. sanctaemarthae Sclater, PL, 1862 – north Colombia and northwest VenezuelaR. m. griseodorsalis Chapman, 1912 – west ColombiaR. m. pallidus Todd, 1913 – Zulia Valley and west VenezuelaR. m. trinitatis Lesson, R, 1839 – east Colombia to north Venezuela, TrinidadR. m. albiventris Sclater, PL, 1883 – east Venezuela, the Guianas and north BrazilR. m. duidae Zimmer, JT, 1937 – northeast Ecuador to south VenezuelaR. m. badius Zimmer, JT, 1937 – northeast Peru and southeast EcuadorR. m. amazonum Hellmayr, 1907 – east Peru to north central BrazilR. m. austerus Zimmer, JT, 1937 – east Brazil south of the AmazonR. m. melanurus Vieillot, 1819 – east central Brazil
Description
Adult trilling gnatwrens are in length and weigh. They have a long, thin bill and a short cocked tail. The upperparts are grey-brown, with rufous on the sides of the head. The throat is white, shading to buff on the rest of the underparts. The tail is black with white tips to all but the central feathers, and is frequently wagged. R. m. trinitatis, of eastern Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad has paler underparts, and buff flanks and head sides.The call is a trilled drdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdr.