Black-tailed Leaftosser

About the Black-tailed Leaftosser

The black-tailed leaftosser (Sclerurus caudacutus) is a species of bird in the subfamily Sclerurinae, the leaftossers and miners, of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The black-tailed leaftosser's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign it these six subspecies: S. c. caudacutus (Vieillot, 1816)

S. c. insignis Zimmer, J.T., 1934 S. c. brunneus Sclater, P.L., 1857 S. c. pallidus Zimmer, J.T., 1934 S. c. umbretta (Lichtenstein, M.H.C., 1823) S. c. caligineus Pinto, 1954 The Clements taxonomy does not recognize S. c. caligineus but includes S. c. olivascens, which the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's online Birds of the World states "probably represents clinal variation within brunneus".

The black-tailed and scaly-throated leaftossers (S. guatemalensis) are sister species. The black-tailed leaftosser is the darkest and dullest member of genus Sclerurus. It is 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 34 to 42 g (1.2 to 1.5 oz). The... Wikipedia →