Itatiaia Spinetail

About the Itatiaia Spinetail

The Itatiaia spinetail (Asthenes moreirae), also known as the Itatiaia thistletail, is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to southeastern Brazil. The Itatiaia spinetail was long placed in the monotypic genus Oreophylax and by some authors in Schizoeaca, but genetic data published in 2011 places it and all other members of Schizoeaca firmly in Asthenes. It has no subspecies.

The Itatiaia spinetail is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long and weighs 10 to 11 g (0.35 to 0.39 oz). It is one of the smaller members of its genus. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly dull brown face, sometimes with a faint paler eyering. Their crown, upperparts, wings, and tail are uniformly dark brown. Their tail feathers lack most barbs at the end, giving them a spiny appearance. Their chin and throat are pale dingy buff with a tawny ochraceous patch in the center of the latter. Their underparts are pale buffy brown that is palest in the center of the belly and browner on the flanks. Their iris is brown, their maxilla blackish, their mandible brownish horn, and their legs and feet dark... Wikipedia →