Willis's antbird (''Cercomacroides laeta''), also known as the laeta antbird, 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

Thamnophilidae The antbirds are a large passerine bird family, Thamnophilidae, found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 230 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire ...

. 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 ...

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 was formerly considered 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 ...

dusky antbird The dusky antbird or tyrannine antbird (''Cercomacroides tyrannina'') is a passerine bird in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southeastern Mexico southwards to western Ecuador, and Amazonian ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and heavily degraded former forest. Willis's antbird was described by the American ornithologist

W. E. Clyde Todd Walter Edmond Clyde Todd (Smithfield, Ohio, September 6, 1874 – June 25, 1969) was an American ornithologist who worked at the Carnegie Museum. He collected specimens mainly in the arctic zone and was the author of several books. Biography In ...

in 1920 as a subspecies of the

and given the

trinomial name In biology, trinomial nomenclature refers to names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany. In zoology In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or ternary ...

''Cercomacra tyrannina laeta''. A 1997 study found that Willis's antbird differed from the dusky antbird in both plumage and voice and as a result, Willis's antbird was promoted to species status. The common name commemorates the American ornithologist

Edwin O'Neill Willis Edwin O'Neill Willis (18 January 1935 – 11 April 2015) was an American ornithologist who studied the birds of Central and South America. Biography Willis was born on 18 January 1935, the son of Andrew Nelson Willis and Verna Fleming. He was ra ...

. A

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 published in 2014 found that '' Cercomacra'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

. The genus was split to create two

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

genera and six species including Willis's antbird were moved to the newly erected genus ''

Cercomacroides ''Cercomacroides'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Thamnophilidae. The genus contains six species: * Willis's antbird (''Cercomacroides laeta'') * Parker's antbird (''Cercomacroides parkeri'') * Blackish antbird (''Cercomacroides ...

''.

References

Willis's antbird Birds of the Brazilian Amazon Birds of Brazil Endemic birds of Brazil Willis's antbird Willis's antbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Thamnophilidae-stub