The Brasília tapaculo (''Scytalopus novacapitalis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to southern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Brasilia tapaculo is most closely related to the Planalto tapaculo (''Scytalopus pachecoi''). Those two species, rock tapaculo (''S. petrophilus''), and

Diamantina tapaculo The Diamantina tapaculo (''Scytalopus diamantinensis'') is a species of bird in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is endemic to northeastern Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The Diamantina tapaculo was described as a new species in 2007. At that ...

(''S. diamantinensis'') form a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

. It was originally thought to be closely related to the white-breasted tapaculo (''Eleoscytalopus indigoticus'').Krabbe, N. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Brasilia Tapaculo (''Scytalopus novacapitalis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bratap1.01 retrieved April 27, 2021Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021

Description

The Brasilia tapaculo is long. One male weighed and two unsexed specimens weighed . The adult is blue-gray above and whitish to pale gray below. The lower back and rump are reddish brown and the vent is rufous with gray barring. The juvenile has not been described.

Distribution and habitat

The Brasilia tapaculo is found in disjunct areas in eastern

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

, the

Distrito Federal A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they ...

, and western

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. It inhabits

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, primarily permanently flooded areas with ''

Blechnum ''Blechnum'', known as hard fern, is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, subfamily Blechnoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). Two very different circumscriptions of the genus are used by d ...

'' ferns and ''

Euterpe Euterpe (; el, Εὐτέρπη, lit=rejoicing well' or 'delight , from grc, εὖ, eû, well + el, τέρπειν, térpein, to please) was one of the Muses in Greek mythology, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse ...

'' palms. It has a fairly narrow elevational range of .

Behavior

Feeding

The Brasilia tapaculo forages on the ground for insects, spiders, and centipedes.

Breeding

The only information on the Brasilia tapaculo's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

is that a specimen collected in July had active gonads.

Vocalization

The Brazilia tapaculo's song is an "ewk" note repeated for up to a minut

Its alarm call is a series of sharp "che-te-te" notes. Another call is a fast series of "chip" notes that increase in volume.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the Brasilia tapaculo as Endangered. Its range of approximately 72 km² (28 mi²) is greatly fragmented and under continued threat of degradation. It does, however, occur in at least six protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q899144 Brasília tapaculo Birds of the Cerrado Endemic birds of Brazil Brasília tapaculo Brasília tapaculo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot