The white-throated barbtail (''Premnoplex tatei'') is an
Endangered species of
bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird
family Furnariidae. It is
endemic to
Venezuela.
[
]
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-throated barbtail was originally described as a full species and later treated as a subspecies of the spotted barbtail (''P. brunnescens'') by many authors[Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 31, 2023]. Based on voice, habitat, behavioral, and genetic differences described in 2007 and 2010 publications it was elevated back to species rank.[Pérez-Emán, J.L., Hernández, L.L. and Brumfield, R.T. (2010). Phylogenetic relationships of the White-throated Barbtail, ''Premnoplex tatei'' (Furnariidae), an endemic of the northeastern mountain range of Venezuela. Condor 112(3): 561–570.] The white-throated and spotted barbtails form a superspecies.[
As of late 2023 its further taxonomy is unsettled. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society, the International Ornithological Committee, and the ]Clements taxonomy
''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world.
The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...
assign it two subspecies, the nominate ''P. t. tatei'' (Chapman
Chapman may refer to:
Businesses
* Chapman Entertainment, a former British television production company
* Chapman Guitars, a guitar company established in 2009 by Rob Chapman
* Chapman's, a Canadian ice cream and ice water products manufacturer ...
, 1925) and ''P. t. pariae'' ( Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1949).[Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 31, 2023][Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022] BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
's ''Handbook of the Birds of the World
The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...
'' (HBW) treats the two taxa as separate species. It retains the English name white-throated barbtail for ''P. tatei'' ''sensu stricto
''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...
'' and calls ''P. pariae'' the Paria barbtail.[HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022] Some data generated since the 2010 publication support the two-species model.[Greeney, H. F. and J. V. Remsen, Jr. (2020). White-throated Barbtail (''Premnoplex tatei''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whtbar1.01 retrieved September 8, 2023]
This article follows the one-species, two-subspecies model.
Description
The white-throated barbtail is long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a whitish 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 ...
, brownish ear coverts
A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts
The ear coverts are sm ...
, and whitish streaks on the side of the neck. Their crown is dark gray-brown with a blackish scalloped appearance. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are dark gray-brown with a rufous tinge. Their wings and tail are dark