Moustached Antpitta

About the Moustached Antpitta

The moustached antpitta (Grallaria alleni) is a Vulnerable species of bird placed in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. The moustached antpitta has two subspecies, the nominate G. a. alleni (Chapman, 1912) and G. a. andaquiensis (Hernández-Camacho & Rodríguez-M, 1979). It and the scaled antpitta (G. guatimalensis) form a superspecies, and some authors have suggested that they are conspecific.

The species' specific epithet honors Arthur A. Allen, who collected the type specimen in 1911 and later founded the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Grallaria antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills [and] very short tails". The moustached antpitta is 16.5 to 17 cm (6.5 to 6.7 in) long; two males weighed 64 and 77 g (2.3 and 2.7 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a light olive brown forecrown and a slate gray crown and nape with thin blackish edges on the feathers. They have white lores, olive brown ear coverts, and a wide white "moustache" with thin black streaks in it. Their upperparts are dark rufescent... Wikipedia →