The swallow-tailed cotinga (''Phibalura flavirostris'') is a species of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird in the family Cotingidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Phibalura''. The

nominate 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 ...

(''P. f. flavirostris'') are found in 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 south-eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and Argentina (

Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...

only). The subspecies ''P. f. boliviana'', which only was rediscovered in 2000 (after 98 years without any records), is restricted to the vicinity of Apolo in Bolivia. Both populations are threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. The race '' P. f. boliviana'' is treated by

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 ...

and on the World Bird List Version 8.2 as a separate species, the palkachupa cotinga or the Bolivian swallow-tailed cotinga. However, the

South American Classification Committee The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

decided not to split the swallow-tailed cotinga in 2011, and a large

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the family Cotingidae published in 2014 found only small differences between the DNA sequences of the two taxa and thus did not provide evidence to support the treatment of ''P. f. boliviana'' as a separate species.

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tropicalbirding

VIREO swallow-tailed cotinga Birds of Brazil Birds of the Atlantic Forest swallow-tailed cotinga Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cotingidae-stub