The spot-breasted wren (''Pheugopedius maculipectus'') 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 found in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The spot-breasted wren has at times been treated as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with rufous-breasted wren (''P. rutilus'') and speckle-breasted wren (''P. sclateri''). They do form a superspecies.Kroodsma, D. E. and D. Brewer (2020). Spot-breasted Wren (''Pheugopedius maculipectus''), 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.spbwre1.01 retrieve June 4, 2021Remsen, 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 The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC) recognizes five subspecies: *''P. m. microstictus'' Griscom (1930) *''P. m. maculopectus'' Lafresnaye (1845) *''P. m. canobrunneus'' Ridgway (1887) *''P. m. umbrinus'' Ridgway (1887) *''P. m. petersi'' Griscom (1930) 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 ...

recognizes a sixth subspecies:Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019 *''P. m. varians'' Griscom (1930)

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 ...

(BLI) does not recognize either ''petersi'' or ''varians'', considering them "indistinguishable from ''umbrinus''".HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021

Description

The spot-breasted wren is long; males weigh and females . Adults of the nominate subspecies have a reddish brown crown and upperparts; the rump is more chestnut. Their tail is dull brown with narrow dark bars. They have a 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 ...

and the rest of the face and neck are streaked with black and white. The throat, chest, and the center of the belly are pale gray with black spots and the flanks and lower belly are orange-buff with no spots. Juveniles are paler than the adult and the facial markings and spots are less extensive and dimmer. ''P. m. microstictus'' is not as reddish as the nominate and the spots on its breast are smaller and fewer. ''P. m. canobrunneus'' is paler than the nominate and its crown is light buffy cinnamon. ''P. m. umbrinus'' (including ''petersi'' and ''varians'') is larger and darker than the nominate.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of spot-breasted wren, including the two that are not universally accepted, are found thus: *''P. m. microstictus'', northeastern Mexico from southeastern

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

and central

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

states south to eastern

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

and northern

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

*''P. m. maculopectus'', eastern Mexico from Veracruz south to

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

and northern

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

*''P. m. canobrunneus'', the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

, northern Belize, and Guatemala's

Petén Department Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...

*''P. m. umbrinus'', southern Mexico south through southern Belize, most of Guatemala, El Salvador, northern and central Honduras, and the Caribbean slopes of Nicaragua and extreme northern Costa Rica *''P. m. petersi'', northern Honduras south through Nicaragua to northern Costa Rica *''P. m. varians'', Pacific slope of

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

, Mexico, and Guatemala and El Salvador The spot-breasted wren occurs in a wide variety of habitats including humid coastal and dry forest (intact, disturbed, and regrowing) and cocoa and citrus plantations. In elevation it ranges from sea level to in Mexico and Honduras but only up to in Costa Rica.

Behavior

Feeding

The spot-breasted wren forages at low levels in dense vegetation, usually in pairs or family groups. Its diet is not well defined but is probably mostly invertebrates.

Breeding

Some details of the spot-breasted 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 ...

are known. Its breeding season varies by latitude. Its nest is dome-shaped, has a side entrance, and is typically placed in the crotch of a tree or in ferns up to above the ground. The clutch size is three to four. Both sexes feed the young.

Vocalization

The spot-breasted wren's song is " a cheerful series of clear whistling gurgles" given by both sexe

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 spot-breasted wren as being of Least Concern. Its population is estimated to be at least 500,000 individuals. However, its "population trend is difficult to determine because of uncertainty over the impacts of habitat modification on population sizes."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q595581 spot-breasted wren Birds of Mexico Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Belize Birds of Guatemala Birds of El Salvador Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua spot-breasted wren Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Frédéric de Lafresnaye