Cinereous Ground-Tyrant

About the Cinereous Ground-Tyrant

The cinereous ground tyrant (Muscisaxicola cinereus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The cinereous ground tyrant was originally described as Muscisaxicola cinerea. It was later determined that Muscisaxicola is masculine so the specific epithet's case was changed to conform to binomial nomenclature. Between the early and mid-twentieth century many authors treated the cinereous ground tyrant as a subspecies of Muscisaxicola alpinus, now called the paramo ground tyrant or plain-capped ground-tyrant by different taxonomic systems.

The cinereous ground tyrant has two subspecies, the nominate M. c. cinereous (Philippi & Landbeck, 1864) and M. c. argentinus (Hellmayr, 1932). At least one publication suggests that M. c. argentinus should be transferred to M. alpinus.

The cinereous ground tyrant is 15.5 to 16.5 cm (6.1 to 6.5 in) long. The two subspecies and the sexes have the same shades of gray plumage ("cinereous" means ash-colored). Subspecies M. c. argentinus is slighter larger than the nominate. Adults have a grayish brown crown, dusky lores, and a... Wikipedia →