Amazonian Plain-Xenops

About the Amazonian Plain-Xenops

The Amazonian plain xenops (Xenops genibarbis) is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The Amazonian plain xenops was formally described in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Illiger based on a specimen collected near Cametá in northeastern Brazil. He coined the binomial name Xenops genibarbis where the specific epithet combines Latin gena meaning "cheek" with barba meaning "beard".

What are now the five subspecies of the Amazonian plain xenops were formerly included in the "plain xenops" (X. minutus). In 2016 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) separated X. genibarbis, with 10 subspecies, from X. minutus and confusingly called the new species "plain xenops". HBW renamed X. minutus the "white-throated xenops". The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognized the split in July 2023 and kept the HBW English names.

A study published in 2020 described differences in plumage, vocalizations and DNA among the subspecies of X. genibabis. Based on it and other studies, in August... Wikipedia →