''Myrmoderus'' is a genus of
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
birds in the family
Thamnophilidae
The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...
.
The genus contains five species:
*
Ferruginous-backed antbird
The ferruginous-backed antbird (''Myrmoderus ferrugineus'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It inhabits the Guyanas and the northern Amazon Basin. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
...
(''Myrmoderus ferrugineus'')
*
Cordillera Azul antbird
The Cordillera Azul antbird (''Myrmoderus eowilsoni'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It has been found only in the Cordillera Azul, San Martín Region, Peru where its natural habitat is humid montane forest.
The s ...
(''Myrmoderus eowilsoni'')
*
Scalloped antbird
The scalloped antbird (''Myrmoderus ruficauda'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. ...
(''Myrmoderus ruficauda'')
*
White-bibbed antbird
The white-bibbed antbird (''Myrmoderus loricatus'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist mo ...
(''Myrmoderus loricatus'')
*
Squamate antbird
The squamate antbird (''Myrmoderus squamosus'') is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
...
(''Myrmoderus squamosus'')
The Cordillera Azul antbird was first described in 2018. The other four species were formerly included in the genus ''
Myrmeciza
The white-bellied antbird (''Myrmeciza longipes''), is a passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World from Panama to northern Brazil and in Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad an ...
''. A
molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
study published in 2013 found that ''Myrmeciza'', as then defined, was
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...
. In the resulting rearrangement to create
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
genera four species were moved to the resurrected genus ''Myrmoderus''.
[ The genus had originally been erected in 1909 by the American ornithologist ]Robert Ridgway
Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of bird ...
with the white-bibbed antbird as the type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1180307
Taxa named by Robert Ridgway