Gray Antbird

About the Gray Antbird

The grey antbird (Cercomacra cinerascens) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The grey antbird was described by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1857 from a specimen obtained near the Rio Napo in Ecuador. He coined the binomial name Formicivora cinerascens. The specific epithet is Late Latin meaning "ashen". This antbird is now placed in the genus Cercomacra that was introduced by Sclater in 1858.

The grey antbird has these four subspecies: C. c. cinerascens (Sclater, PL, 1857) C. c. immaculata Chubb, C, 1918 C. c. sclateri Hellmayr, 1905 C. c. iterata Zimmer, JT, 1932 Some early twentieth century authors treated C. c. sclateri as a separate species but by the middle of the century it had obtained its current status. More recently some authors have suggested that it and C. c. iterata might be species in their own right.

The grey antbird is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 14 to 18 g (0.49 to 0.63 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. c. cinerascens... Wikipedia →