The mouse-gray flycatcher or mouse-grey flycatcher (''Myiophobus crypterythrus'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is found in southwest

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 ...

, western Ecuador, and northwestern Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Taxonomy

The Mouse-gray flycatcher was originally described by English ornithologist Philip Sclater in 1861 from a specimen sent to him from

Pallatanga Pallatanga is a location in the Chimborazo Province, Ecuador. It is the seat of the Pallatanga Canton. The village is located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Chimborazo Province, Ecuador, about 2 and a half hours from Guayaquil, about ...

, Ecuador. Sclater originally placed it in the genus ''

Myiobius ''Myiobius'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Tityridae. The genus was previously considered to belong to the Tyrannidae. The genus ''Myiobius'' was erected in 1839 by George Robert Gray in the section on birds in ''The Zoology of th ...

'', but it was later placed in ''Myiophobus''. Its specific epithet ''crypterythrus'' comes from the Greek ''crypto'' meaning hidden, and ''erythrus'' meaning reddish, a reference to its subtle reddish wing bars that aren't obviously apparent at first glance. Sclater noted its similarity to the

Bran-colored flycatcher The bran-colored flycatcher (''Myiophobus fasciatus'') is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from Costa Rica through South America to Bolivia, Uruguay, and Argentina. It also occurs on Trinidad. This spec ...

(then under the name ''Myiobius naevius'') but identified its difference in size and morphology. It was later considered to be a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the Bran-colored flycatcher by Carl Eduard Hellmayr under the name ''Myiophobus fasciatus crypterythrus''. Some publications used the name Western Banded Flycatcher for the subspecies during the 20th century. Although its distinct appearance was apparent, some believed that it didn't even warrant a subspecies, with Zimmer considering it conspecific with ''M. f. rufescens'' due to a confusing female specimen from where the ranges overlap. In 2023 a proposal to the South American Classification Committee by J.I. Areta and T.S. Schulenberg to split the subspecies ''M. f. crypterythrus'' and '' M. f. rusfescens'' from the Bran-colored flycatcher was approved unanimously, leading to the split of the Mouse-gray and

Rufescent Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

flycatchers as new species.

Description

The Mouse-gray flycatcher is a small brownish-grey bird weighing 9.9g. It has a brown back, neck, and crown with a pale belly, throat, and

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

and greyish-brown breast streaks and cheek. It's wings and tail are a darker brown with the coverts, the sides of the secondaries and tertials, and the tips of the primaries being a rufous color that varies from being a subtle tinge to a very bold

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

. It can be told from the Bran-colored by its darker sepia brown back and paler and more obvious supercilium. The related Rufescent flycatcher is easily differentiated by its rufous unstreaked belly and breast.

Distribution

It has a rather restricted range compared to its relatives, being found from extreme southwestern

, Ecuador west of the Andes into Peru reaching its southern terminus in La Libertad Department.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q31874438 Myiophobus Birds of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Birds described in 1861 Taxa named by Philip Sclater