The Brasília tapaculo (''Scytalopus novacapitalis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to southern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Brasília tapaculo is most closely related to the Planalto tapaculo (''Scytalopus pachecoi''). Those two species, rock tapaculo (''S. petrophilus''), and Diamantina tapaculo (''S. diamantinensis'') form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

. It was originally thought to be closely related to the white-breasted tapaculo (''Eleoscytalopus indigoticus'').Krabbe, N. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Brasilia Tapaculo (''Scytalopus novacapitalis''), 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.bratap1.01 retrieved April 27, 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 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

Description

The Brasília tapaculo is long. One male weighed and two unsexed specimens weighed . The adult is blue-gray above and whitish to pale gray below. The lower back and rump are reddish brown and the vent is rufous with gray barring. The juvenile has not been described.

Distribution and habitat

The Brasília tapaculo is found in disjunct areas in eastern

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

, the Distrito Federal, and western

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. It inhabits

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, primarily permanently flooded areas with '' Blechnum'' ferns and ''

Euterpe Euterpe (; , from + ) was one of the Muses in Greek mythology, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse of lyric poetry. She has been called "Giver of delight" by ancient poets. Mythology Euterpe was born as one of t ...

'' palms. It has a fairly narrow elevational range of .

Behavior

Feeding

The Brasília tapaculo forages on the ground for insects, spiders, and centipedes.

Breeding

The only information on the Brasília tapaculo's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

is that a specimen collected in July had active gonads.

Vocalization

The Brazilia tapaculo's song is an "ewk" note repeated for up to a minut

Its alarm call is a series of sharp "che-te-te" notes. Another call is a fast series of "chip" notes that increase in volume.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the Brasília tapaculo as Endangered. Its range of approximately 72 km² (28 mi²) is greatly fragmented and under continued threat of degradation. It does, however, occur in at least six protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q899144 Brasília tapaculo Birds of the Cerrado Endemic birds of Brazil Brasília tapaculo Brasília tapaculo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot