Scalloped Antbird Myrmoderus ruficauda Scientific name definitions

The globally Endangered Scalloped Antbird has a disjunct range in northeast and east Brazil, where it is represented by two subspecies. The nominate occurs in Espírito Santo, southern Bahia, and in extreme northeast Minas Gerais, while the larger and paler subspecies, M. r. soror, is rather commoner, despite the catastrophic level of forest loss in this region, being still found at several localities in both Alagoas and Pernambuco, with a single old specimen record from the state of Paraíba. Like other east Brazilian congenerics, Scalloped Antbird inhabits the floor of humid and semi-humid lowland forests, often with a relatively open understory, where pairs usually maintain close contact, and feed on or close to the ground, and always apart from mixed-species flocks. Breeding is not well known, but the its nest architecture appears to recall that of the closely related White-bibbed Antbird (Myrmoderus loricatus) and Squamate Antbird (Myrmoderus squamosus).

14–15 cm. Male has crown to upper back black, feathers edged clay colour, rear superciliary feathers edged white, lower back black with ochraceous-tinged white feather edges, interscapular patch white, rump rufous, tail rufous-brown; remiges brown, edged rufous, wing-coverts black, tipped light buff; head side and throat black, feathers of breast and sides black with broad white edges, posterior underparts ochre-brown; underwing-coverts light grey, edged white. Female is like male but browner above, superciliary region and side of head mottled pale buff and brownish-grey, feather edges on back wider and darker, throat white, faintly scalloped grey, breast pale buff, scalloped blackish. Race soror is larger and paler.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Floor of humid and semi-humid evergreen forest, mature second-growth woodland and, at least sometimes, contiguous degraded second growth; mainly below 550 m, rarely to 950 m. At Sooretama Ecological Reserve (Espírito Santo) has been reported from interior of tall forest, but is most often found in drier forest where understorey characterized by abundance of thick, woody vines and slender tree trunks. In N (soror) most often in semi-humid forest with shaded, fairly open understorey characterized by numerous small saplings and well-developed leaf litter, and usually near treefall or other light-gap with dense vine tangles or brush piles.

Resident.

Little published. Feeds on various insects and other arthropods; stomach of one specimen contained 3 grasshoppers (Acrididae), 3 spiders (Araneae), a beetle (Coleoptera), a cockroach (Blattidae), and other insects. Also observed to take crickets (Gryllidae), and millipedes (Diplopoda) and small frog fed to chicks. Highly terrestrial. Closely associated partners, individuals, or family groups forage mostly on the ground, occasionally just above it, and apart from mixed-species flocks; usually in shaded areas of forest floor with well-developed leaf litter, often near brush piles and ground-level tangles of woody vines (which used more for cover when alarmed). Somewhat lethargic; progresses by short hops, separated by frequent stops to flip dead leaves from the litter (at times spending minutes at a time in single spot), sometimes hopping up to low, mostly horizontal or inclined perch to peer about, before dropping back to ground; while hopping, slowly dips the tail (which often partially fanned) and then flicks it upwards more rapidly. Tosses leaves in manner of a leaftosser (Sclerurus), usually with a vigorous sideways flick of the bill, sometimes by picking up a leaf with bill and then throwing it; also probes in litter, sometimes burrowing with its head under the leaves. Leaf-litter arthropods, once exposed, are seized with a quick stab of the bill. Also gleans prey from stems, vines or undersides of live leaves, by reaching up, out or down, or by short, upward-directed jump-gleans. Not known to follow army ants.

Loudsong a series (e.g. 2·1 seconds) of doublets delivered so rapidly that they can barely be discriminated in musical rattle that rises and falls in pitch. Call a short (e.g. 0·05–0·1 seconds), buzzy (frequency-modulated) “squit”.

In Alagoas, nests found mainly in Apr but three in Oct (details previously unpublished); in S (Espírito Santo), gonadal condition of birds, and female with ripe egg in oviduct in Nov, indicates breeding in Oct–Dec. Following details from Alagoas. Nest a cup constructed primarily of dead leaves, e.g. of sedge (Cyperaceae), lined with Marasmius fibres and sometimes fine stalks and leaf veins, outside dimensions 14·7–19·5 × 11·3–18 cm and 8–15 cm high, inside 6·2–7·5 × 6–6·4 cm and 4·5–8 cm high, weight of three nests 25 g, of one 40 g; placed on ground among or on platform of dead leaves, two in tangle of sedges, one partially covered by leaves of a shrub and bordered by a vine. Clutch 2 eggs, 22 × 16·5 mm, white, intensely marbled with fine brownish-red lines and a few darker lines; incubation by both sexes, 15 days at one nest; hatchling naked, skin glossy dark greyish-violaceous; during 160 minutes’ observation in morning at a nest with two 5-day-old chicks, adults usually arrived together (male 8 visits, female 6), delivered whole insects (9 millipedes, 4 cockroaches, 2 crickets, 1 small frog), fed chicks rapidly, then swallowed or carried away a faecal sac; nestling period 12 days at two nests, 13 and 14 days at two others.

ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in Atlantic Forest Lowlands EBA and Atlantic Slope of Alagoas and Pernambuco EBA. Uncommon and patchily distributed throughout its highly fragmented range. Has undergone serious population declines resulting from habitat destruction, and now seemingly restricted to a few scattered patches of forest. Most lowland localities in which the species has been recorded either have already been cleared or are under pressure, and even the few reserves in which it hangs on are not completely secure. Known to occur in several protected areas: Tapacurá Ecological Station (350 ha), Serra dos Cavalos UFPE Ecological Station (450 ha), Saltinho Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 563 ha) and Frei Caneca Private Nature Reserve (630 ha), in Pernambuco; Murici Ecological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 6132 ha) and Pedra Talhada Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 4382 ha), in Alagoas; and Sooretama Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 27,859 ha) and Córrego do Veado Biological Reserve (IUCN Cat. Ia; 2376 ha), in Espírito Santo. Most of these sites are small, and some have yielded only single records of this thamnophilid. Primary stronghold for nominate race is Sooretama, where it was variously considered to be uncommon to fairly common in 1980s and 1990s, but was not detected in a brief 2-day survey in 2001; a localized and incredibly violent wind storm in Oct 2001 resulted in massive destruction of forest on one side of the reserve, and effects of this disturbance on resident bird populations, including of present species, have yet to be determined. N race soror is locally more common than nominate, but it, too, hangs on in just a few known localities, with principal strongholds being the Murici and Pedra Talhada reserves; repeated visits to Murici during 1996–2002 constantly located 5–8 territories along the dirt track through centre of reserve. Not included in the list of formally protected areas is Fazenda Petropolis/Usina Serra Grande (Alagoas), a privately owned tract of some 3000 ha of upland semi-humid forest and mature second-growth woodland that has been selectively logged, and is owned/managed by a sugar-cane processing company; 3 territories of soror were located at Usina Serra Grande during 1996 surveys, and the area holds promise as a sanctuary for this and several other localized endemics, including Terenura sicki. Population estimated to number 1000–2500 individuals BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Myrmeciza ruficauda. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/09/2015. . Continued protection of existing reserves, including more vigilant protection of the Murici Ecological Reserve (being eroded at its margins by fire, and still subjected to illegal timber removal in Jan 2000) is critical to the continued survival of this species. In addition, all remaining unprotected patches of forest within its range should be surveyed for potential undetected populations. Considered Endangered at the national level in Brazil (1 Silveira, L. F., and F. C. Straube (2008). Aves. Pp. 378–679 in:. Close , 2 MMA (2014). Lista Nacional Oficial de Espécies da Fauna Ameaçadas de Extinção. Portaria No 444, de 17 de dezembro de 2014. Diário Oficial da União - Seção 1. Nº 245, quinta-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2014. Close ).