Guianan Streaked-Antwren

About the Guianan Streaked-Antwren

The Guianan streaked antwren (Myrmotherula surinamensis) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The Guianan streaked antwren was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the nuthatches in the genus Sitta and coined the binomial name Sitta surinamensis. Gmelin based his description on the "Surinam nuthatch" that had been described and illustrated in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The Guianan streaked antwren is now placed in the genus Myrmotherula that was introduced in 1858 by Philip Sclater. The species is monotypic: No subspecies are recognized.

During much of the twentieth century the Guianan streaked antwren and what are now the Pacific antwren (Myrmotherula pacifica) and the Amazonian streaked antwren (M. multostriata) were considered conspecific as the "streaked antwren". Differences in their plumage and voice indicate that they are separate... Wikipedia →