Undulated Antpitta

About the Undulated Antpitta

The undulated antpitta (Grallaria squamigera) is a bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The undulated antpitta was first described by Florent Prévost and Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs in 1842 and assigned the binomial Grallaria squamigera. Between then and the present it was treated by different authors as a subspecies of the giant antpitta (G. gigantea) and its specific epithet misspelled as "Grallaria squamiger" before returning to its original, and present, binomial.

The undulated antpitta has two subspecies, the nominate G. s. squamigera (Prévost & Des Murs, 1842) and G. s. canicauda (Chapman, 1926). Grallaria antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills, very short tails, and very long bluish gray legs". The undulated antpitta is the largest member of its genus that occurs in the higher Andes; it is 20 to 24 cm (7.9 to 9.4 in) long and weighs 112 to 174 g (4.0 to 6.1 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a gray crown and nape and mostly ashy brown upperparts... Wikipedia →