The variegated antpitta (Grallaria varia) is a species of bird in the family Grallariidae.It is found in southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, the Guianas and the northern Amazon Basin. Its range extends to Venezuela in the northwest; in the Amazon Basin, it is found in the downstream half of the basin, as well as in the Atlantic outlet region of the neighboring Tocantins-Araguaia River drainage to the southeast. A minor disjunct population is in Peru, and an Argentinian population is found in the tongue of land between Paraguay and southern Brazil.
| Variegated antpitta | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Grallariidae |
| Genus: | Grallaria |
| Species: | G. varia |
| Binomial name | |
| Grallaria varia (Boddaert, 1783) | |
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Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Taxonomy
The variegated antpitta was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana.[2] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[3] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Formicarius varius in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.[4] The variegated antpitta is now placed in the genus Grallaria that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.[5][6] The genus name is from Neo-Latin grallarius meaning "stilt-walker". The specific epithet varia is from Latin varius meaning "various", "diverse" or "variegated".[7]
Five subspecies are recognised:[6]
- G. v. cinereiceps Hellmayr, 1903 – south Venezuela, northwest Brazil and northeast Peru
- G. v. varia (Boddaert, 1783) – east Venezuela, the Guianas and northeast Brazil
- G. v. distincta Todd, 1927 – central Brazil
- G. v. intercedens von Berlepsch & Leverkühn, 1890 – east Brazil
- G. v. imperator Lafresnaye, 1842 – southeast Brazil, east Paraguay and northeast Argentina
References
External links
- Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the variegated antpitta
- Variegated antpitta photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res
- Photo-High Res; Article fieldmuseum.org–"Rapid Biological Inventories"
- Graphic-Medium Res & Article www.sib.gov.ar/fichas/fauna
