The slaty bristlefront (''Merulaxis ater'') is a member of the
Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In bioge ...
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 ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Rhinocryptidae, the tapaculos. 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 south-east
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 ...
.
Taxonomy and systematics
The slaty bristlefront and
Stresemann's bristlefront
Stresemann's bristlefront (''Merulaxis stresemanni'') is a critically endangered species of bird in the family Rhinocryptidae, the tapaculos. It is endemic to Brazil.
Taxonomy and systematics
Stresemann's bristlefront and the slaty bristlef ...
(''Merulaxis stresemanni'') form a
superspecies, and the two might actually be one species. It has no subspecies.
[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 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021][Krabbe, N. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Slaty Bristlefront (''Merulaxis ater''), 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.slabri1.01 retrieved 26 April 2021]
Description
The slaty bristlefront is long. A male weighed
and a female . The male is mostly dark blue gray. The lower back is dark brown and the flanks, vent, and tail are black. The female is over all shades of brown, lighter on the throat and breast. Both sexes have a crest of short stiff feathers that stand erect at the base of the bill and forehead.
[
]
Distribution and habitat
The slaty bristlefront is found only in southeastern Brazil, in a narrow band near the Atlantic coast from Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
south to Santa Catarina. It might have formerly occurred further north in southern Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
.[
The slaty bristlefront is a bird of humid forests in both lowlands and mountains. In a few locations it is found at elevations as low as but more typically its lower limit is . In the northern part of its range it is found only in the mountains, as high as .][
]
Behavior
Feeding
Little is known about the slaty bristlefront's diet. It is known to forage in pairs, though not close together, on the ground and in low vegetation.[
]
Breeding
One slaty bristlefront nest has been described, in Rio de Janeiro state
Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...
. It was constructed by both members of a pair using twigs, narrow leaves, and leaf stems with a lining of lichen. It was placed in a roughly horizontal burrow at least long in an earthen bank.
Vocalization
The slaty bristlefront begins its song with a series of clicks followed by a trill described as "hysterical laughter". It has several calls, described as
“tsewk-tsewk, pit”, “keekick”, and “he-he-heeheeheehee”.[
]
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 slaty bristlefront as least concern. It is threatened by habitat loss, especially in the lowlands.
References
External links
Image at ADW
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q1267757
slaty bristlefront
Birds of the Atlantic Forest
Endemic birds of Brazil
slaty bristlefront
slaty bristlefront