Sooty ant tanager

Sooty ant tanager
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Cardinalidae
Genus:	Driophlox
Species:	D. gutturalis
Binomial name
Driophlox gutturalis (Sclater, PL, 1854)

Sooty Ant-Tanager

The sooty ant tanager (Driophlox gutturalis) is a species of bird in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It was formerly placed with the true tanagers in the family Thraupidae and was assigned to the genus Habia with the red-crowned ant tanager.

It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and secondary forest. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.

Taxonomy

The sooty ant tanager was formally described in 1854 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater under the binomial name Phoenicothraupis gutturalis.[2][3] The specific epithet gutturalis is Latin meaning "of the throat".[4] The sooty ant tanager is a monotypic species.[5]

Description

Sooty Ant-Tanager male with crest raised

The sooty ant tanager is 19–20 cm (7.5–7.9 in) in overall length. The adult male is dark grey with a conspicuous scarlet crest (not always raised) and a rosy-red throat. The adult female is duller with a pinkish-white throat.[6]

Distribution and habitat

This bird is found in northwest Colombia, occurring in the Upper Sínu Valley at the northern end of the western Andes, and east along the north base of the Andes to the middle Magdalena River Valley.

Its natural habitat is humid tropical forests, edges, gaps and mature secondary forest. It prefers dense streamside and landslide habitats in extensive unbroken forest.[6]

References

1. BirdLife International (2021). "Habia gutturalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T22722423A190930538. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22722423A190930538.en. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
2. Sclater, Philip Lutley (1854). "On a new species of tanager in the British Museum". Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 2nd series. 13: 24-25 [25].
3. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 301.
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 182, 184. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2024). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and 'tanager' allies". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
6. Restall, Robin; Rodner, Clemencia; Lentino, Miguel (2006). Birds of Northern South America: an Identification Guide. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. Vol 1 p676. ISBN 978-0-300-10862-0.