The Mérida wren (''Cistothorus meridae''), or paramo wren, 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 Troglodytidae. 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 ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Mérida wren is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

. Apolinar's wren (''C. apolinari''), grass wren (''C. platensis''), and it form a superspecies.Remsen, 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 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021

Description

The Mérida wren is long. Adults have a medium brown crown and nape with darker brown streaks, blackish brown shoulders and upper back with off-white streaks, and a blackish and brown streaked rump. Their tail is medium brown with crisp black bars. They have an off-white

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 ...

that is wider to the rear, cheeks mottled with brown, and off-white chin and throat. Their chest is buffy and the flanks a darker buff.Kroodsma, D. E. and D. Brewer (2020). Merida Wren (''Cistothorus meridae''), 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.merwre1.01 retrieved June 2, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The Mérida wren is found in the Andes of Venezuela from Trujillo south to northeastern

Táchira Táchira State ( es, Estado Táchira, ) is one of the 24 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,908. At the end of the 19t ...

. It inhabits wet

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

with scattered bushes at elevations between . It is mostly sedentary but may move altitudinally and is thought to leave some areas during the rainy season.

Behavior

Feeding

The Mérida wren forages low in the vegetation for

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s; no details have been published.

Breeding

Very little is known about the Mérida wren'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 ...

. It is polygamous and uses "dormitory" nests for roosting but not breeding.

Vocalization

The male Mérida wren has a repertoire of 20 to 25 songs that vary geographically and even among individuals in a region. Some examples ar

an

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 Mérida wren as being of Least Concern. "Despite its small global range, the harsh nature of its habitat does not invite much human interference. Some areas of its range are protected."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3316835 Mérida wren Birds of the Venezuelan Andes Endemic birds of Venezuela Páramo fauna Mérida wren Mérida wren Taxonomy articles created by Polbot