The orange-eyed thornbird (''Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus'') 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 Furnariidae. 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 the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

in eastern

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 ...

. It formerly included '' P. ferrugineigula'' as 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 ...

, but under the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

red-eyed thornbird. After the two were split, that English name was confusingly used for both species briefly, although it only really is fitting for ''P. ferrugineigula''. To avoid this confusion, ''P. ferrugineigula'' is now generally called the orange-breasted thornbird. Unlike that species, the orange-eyed thornbird has conspicuously bright orange eyes, far less

rufous 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 ...

below and on the crown (essentially restricted to the throat and frontlet), and the entire tail rufous. The two also have different voices and are locally

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

without evidence of

interbreeding In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...

.Simon, J. E., Pacheco, J. F., Whitney, B. M., Mattos, G. T., & Gagliardi, R. L. (2008). ''Phacellodomus ferrugineigula (Pelzeln, 1858) (Aves: Furnariidae) é uma espécie válida.'' Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 16(2): 107-124.

References

External links

* orange-eyed thornbird Birds of the Atlantic Forest Endemic birds of Brazil orange-eyed thornbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Furnariidae-stub