Red-crowned Ant-Tanager
Habia rubica
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyCardinalidae (Cardinals and Allies)
- GenusHabia
- SpeciesHabia rubica (Red-crowned Ant-Tanager)
About the Red-crowned Ant-Tanager
The red-crowned ant tanager (Habia rubica) is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. It is the only species now placed in the genus Habia. This species was long placed with the tanagers (Thraupidae), but it is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae).
The red-crowned ant tanager was formally described in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. He placed it in the genus Saltator (which he misspelled as Staltator) and coined the binomial name Saltator rubicus. He specified the locality as Paraguay. The specific epithet is from Medieval Latin rubicus meaning "reddish". The red-crowned ant tanager is now the only species placed in the genus Habia that was introduced in 1840 by Edward Blyth. The genus name is a word used for various finches and tanagers in the Guarani language of Paraguay.
There are 17 recognised subspecies: H. r. holobrunnea Griscom, 1930 – east Mexico H. r. rosea (Nelson, 1898) – southwest Mexico H. r. affinis (Nelson, 1897) – south Oaxaca (south Mexico) H. r. nelsoni (Ridgway, 1902) – Yucatán Peninsula (southeast Mexico)
H. r. rubicoides (Lafresnaye, 1844) – central south, south Mexico to Honduras and El Salvador H... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Chagres National Park
Hepatic Tanager
Piranga flava
Carmiol's Tanager
Chlorothraupis carmioli
Summer Tanager
Piranga rubra
Blue-black Grosbeak
Cyanocompsa cyanoides
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pheucticus ludovicianus
Scarlet Tanager
Piranga olivacea
Indigo Bunting
Passerina cyanea
Dickcissel
Spiza americana
Crimson-backed Tanager
Ramphocelus dimidiatus
Blue-gray Tanager
Thraupis episcopus
Golden-hooded Tanager
Stilpnia larvata
Clay-colored Thrush
Turdus grayi
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.