The fasciated antshrike (''Cymbilaimus lineatus'') 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

antbird The antbirds are a large passerine bird family (biology), family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are List of antbirds, more than 230 species, known variously as an ...

family Thamnophilidae. The species is found in Central and Southern America.

Taxonomy and systematics

The species is very closely related to the

bamboo antshrike The bamboo antshrike (''Cymbilaimus sanctaemariae'') is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. ...

, and the two have previously been considered to be the same species. As the entire range of that species is shared with the fasciated antshrike, however, the two are now treated as two species. The fasciated antshrike has three subspecies, ' the nominate subspecies, ''C. l. lineatus '', ''C. l. fasciatus'' (Ridgway, 1884) and ''C. l. intermedius'' (Hartert & Goodson, 1917).Zimmer, K. & Isler, M.L. (2017). Fasciated Antshrike (Cymbilaimus lineatus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/56646 on 13 March 2017).

Distribution and range

It is found from eastern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

down to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

and the Guyanas. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, in tangled and dense vegetation in the mid-story of the forest. It is more common in secondary forest in Central America. It is usually found below and rarely up to . Where its range overlaps with that of the bamboo antshrike it is found at lower elevations than that species.

Description

The fasciated antshrike is a large antbird, long and weighing . The plumage varies by sex (

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

), with the male being black with white barring across the whole body. The barring is very faint on the crown and becomes more even further down the body. The crown is rufous on the female, and the rest of the body is brown bared with faint yellow-brown, become yellow-brown barred with brown further down the body. The bill is large and hooked. The fasciated antshrike makes a variety of calls, including lazy plaintive whistles and a rattle-like chatter.

Behaviour

Diet and feeding

The fasciated antshrike feeds on large insects and other prey in the mid-story, from off the ground. It particularly feeds on vine clusters and near tree trunks, but will also come down to the forest floor on occasion. Insects taken include grasshoppers, bugs, beetles and caterpillars, as well as spiders and even lizards, amphibians and occasionally fruit. They will join mixed species feeding flocks with antwrens and foliage-gleaners that pass through their territories, and will also follow army ants to take prey flushed by them, but they are not obligate ant-followers.

Breeding

Two creamy white eggs with variable patterning are laid in a simple cup nest of plant fibres placed off the ground. Both parents incubate the eggs during the day, only the female does so at night.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q169370 fasciated antshrike Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Panama Birds of the Guianas fasciated antshrike Taxonomy articles created by Polbot