Bicolored Antbird

About the Bicolored Antbird

The white-cheeked antbird (Gymnopithys leucaspis) is an insectivorous bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The English zoologist Philip Sclater described what is now the white-cheeked antbird in 1855 and coined the binomial name Myrmeciza leucaspis. It was later given the English name bicolored antbird (now Gymnopithys bicolor) and included what is now that separate species. They were split into separate species based on the results of a 2007 genetic study that found that the white-cheeked antbird was more similar to the rufous-throated antbird (G. rufigula) than it was to the bicolored antbird. Because of the principle of priority it retained the original specific epithet leucaspis despite the change of English name. All three are now placed in genus Gymnopithys which was introduced by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1857. These three antbirds are the only members of genus Gymnopithys.

The white-cheeked antbird has these four subspecies: G. l. leucaspis (Sclater, PL, 1855) G. l. castaneus Zimmer, JT, 1937 G. l. peruanus Zimmer, JT, 1937... Wikipedia →