Ochre-cheeked Spinetail

About the Ochre-cheeked Spinetail

The ochre-cheeked spinetail (Synallaxis scutata) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru. The ochre-cheeked spinetail and two other spinetails have been placed by some authors in genus Poecilurus but there are insufficient plumage, behavioral, and genetic differences to support that treatment. The ochre-cheeked spinetail is not even closely related to the other two but is a sister species to the grey-bellied spinetail (S. cinerascens).

Beyond the confirmation that the ochre-cheeked spinetail belongs in genus Synallaxis its taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign it two subspecies, the nominate S. s. scutata (Sclater, PL, 1859) and S. s. whitii (Sclater, PL, 1881). The Clements taxonomy adds a third, S. s. teretiala (Owen, 1985) that the other two systems include within the nominate. Remsen (2020) states that teretiala and a proposed subspecies neglecta are indistinguishable from the nominate.

This article follows the two-subspecies model. Wikipedia →