Highlights: Three Species of Bird Discovered in Peru

New Scytalopus species from the Peruvian Andes: (upper left) adult male and female of the Jalca tapaculo (Scytalopus frankeae); (upper right) male Jalca tapaculo from Junin; (lower left) adult males of the Ampay tapaculo (Scytalopus whitneyi), left from Apurimac, right from Ayacucho; (lower right) adult male (top) and female (below) of the white-winged tapaculo (Scytalopus krabbei). Photo credit: Jon Fjeldsa. Photo Souce: http://www.sci-news.com/biology/three-tapaculos-peru-08497.html
  • The team who discovered the new species consists of ornithologists from different countries.
  • Researchers named the three new species Jalca tapaculo (Scytalopus frankeae), Ampay tapaculo (Scytalopus whitneyi), and white-winged tapaculo (Scytalopus krabbei).
  • The new species will be added to the bird genus Scytalopus.
  • The new species was discovered in the Peruvian Andes.
  • Scytalopus are known as the songbirds or perching birds which belongs to the family Rhinocryptidae.
  • The genus typically inhabits the mountains of Central America and the Atlantic Forest. Their variety is greatest in the Andean Mountains.
  • The new species prefer shrubby alpine habitat and the understory forest layer where plants seldom grow to 12 feet. They hide in thick vegetation and are not good in flying.
  • They resist to migrate in another habitat which makes them prone to population isolation.
  • All the three species are endemic in Peru.
  • Researchers discovered the new species by utilizing an integrated framework using a combination of vocal information, DNA sequences, and appearance, collected from their own fieldwork over the past 40 years and supplemented with community-shared birdsong data and museum samples.

Source:

https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/137/2/ukaa003/5743506

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/three-tapaculos-peru-08497.html

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html

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