Tatama Tapaculo Scytalopus alvarezlopezi Scientific name definitions

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Tatama Tapaculo is restricted to the Pacific slope of the Western Andes of Colombia, where it occurs from western Antioquia south to southwestern Valle del Cauca. This species was initially discovered, in 1992, at a site known as Alto de Pisones, and consequently for many years it was known to birders as “Alto Pisones Tapaculo”. Alto de Pisones is a site near the edge of Tamatá National Park, which lent the species its formal English name. A typical Scytalopus, Tatama Tapaculo is mostly gray, with a dark brown rump, and brown flanks, barred with black. It occupies the undergrowth of humid montane forest mainly at c. 1,300–1,750 m; and its elevational range is bordered below by that of Choco Tapaculo (S. chocoensis), and above by that of Nariño Tapaculo (S. vicinior). Tatama Tapaculo is very similar to both in plumage and behavior, but is easily distinguished by its distinctive, frog-like song. Although Tatama Tapaculo has a restricted distribution, it is not considered to be threatened, and there are continuous expanses of intact forest within its range.

A medium-sized, blackish tapaculo, with black upperparts, slightly tinged dark brown on the rump, and dark grayish-black underparts, with the rear flanks, lower abdomen, and undertail-coverts broadly and slightly indistinctly barred black and dark rufous; the flight feathers are dark brownish black (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

The following is taken from Stiles et al. (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). Four other Scytalopus species have been recorded on the Pacific slope of Colombia, namely Choco Tapaculo (S. chocoensis), Nariño Tapaculo (S. vicinior), Spillmann’s Tapaculo (S. spillmanni), and Blackish Tapaculo (S. latrans). From S. chocoensis, alvarezlopezi differs in being more uniform blackish below, the central abdomen is not paler gray, the barring on the flanks and undertail-coverts is much finer in S. chocoensis, and the brown of the rump is paler and extends to the mid back; furthermore alvarezlopezi is heavier, with longer wings and tarsi, and a thicker bill, and occurs at higher elevations (S. chocoensis below 1,300 m). From S. vicinior, alvarezlopezi is distinguished by its darker and more uniform blackish underparts, at least the abdomen of vicinior is gray, and the pattern on the flanks and undertail-coverts is more finely scalloped with paler rufous, not broadly barred with dark rufous; in addition, alvarezlopezi has a longer, thicker bill but shorter wings, tail, and tarsi, and is found at lower elevations (S. vicinior occurs from c. 1,750–1,800 to c. 2,100 m). S. spillmanni is gray below, often with whitish spotting on the central abdomen, narrower bars of black and paler rufous on the flanks and undertail-coverts, ith much longer wings, tail, and tarsi, and is at much higher elevations (c. 2,100 m to at least 2,600 m). The West Andes subspecies of S. latrans is much more uniform blackish, without rufous bars on the flanks and undertail-coverts, and brown on the back, while alvarezlopezi is much heavier and has a longer, thicker bill, longer wings and tail, and occurs at lower elevations (S. latrans in this region also differs in habitat, being found more in subpáramo matorral).

However, vocalizations are the best clue for identifying this species from its congeners. In the West Andes of Colombia, S. alvarezlopezi is the only tapaculo that produces a long series of short trills. The song of S. stilesi is also a series of distinct phrases, but these are longer with many more notes repeated much more rapidly, producing a more buzzy effect. S. chocoensis, S. vicinior, and S. latrans produce long songs, but these involve the slow repetition of a single note. S. spillmani emits very fast-paced songs, but not in short phrases like S. alvarezlopezi (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

The only specimens (n = 2) are adult males (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). Other plumages have not been described to date (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Adult

Male. Description based on the holotype and paratype (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). Upperparts uniform black, slightly tinged brownish on the rump and wings; tail dark dusky brown. Chin slightly paler (albeit variably) than the throat and breast, being dark neutral gray to blackish gray, whereas the rest of the underparts are uniformly darker, blackish gray, broadly but slightly variably barred dark rufous on the rear flanks, abdomen, and undertail-coverts.

Female. Although undescribed, this plumage might be expected to be overall paler than the male, with brighter and more extensive rufous barring or scalloping on the flanks, lower abdomen, and undertail-coverts, given that this is true of Stiles’s Tapaculo (S. stilesi) (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

No information; neither the holotype (collected in early June) nor the paratype (early April) exhibited any evidence of molt (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Bill

Black, with strikingly bicolored mouth lining, pale pinkish white medially, the tongue and commissure white, and the inside of the bill black laterally and terminally (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Iris

Dark brown (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Legs and Feet

Dark brown, soles dark grayish brown, claws horn color (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Linear Measurements

Overall length c. 12 cm.

Linear measurements (n = 2, both males): wing length (chord) 53.9–54.6 mm, tail length 38.9–39.6 mm, bill length 15.6–15.9 mm, bill depth 4.5–4.6 mm, tarsus length 22.2–22.6 mm (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Mass

24.0–25.4 g (n = 2, both males) (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

A recently described species, analysis of mtDNA has revealed that S. alvarezlopezi forms part of a distinctive clade of tapaculos that also includes Ecuadorian Tapaculo (S. robbinsi), from western Ecuador, and Stiles’s Tapaculo (S. stilesi) and Magdalena Tapaculo (S. rodriguezi), in the Central and East Andes of Colombia (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

None described.

Molecular analyses based on ND2 sequences consistently suggested that S. alvarezlopezi is sister to Ecuadorian Tapaculo (S. robbinsi), but support for this relationship was not very strong, and in both analyses the clade formed by S. alvarezlopezi and S. robbinsi was sister to Stiles’s Tapaculo (S. stilesi), but again this result was not strongly supported (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

The species name, alvarezlopezi, honors Humberto Álvarez-López, an influential Colombian ornithologist for nearly half a century (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). The English name acknowledges that the majority of known localities are in the middle sector of the West Andes, wherein the best-known peak is the Cerro Tatamá.

Nothing known.

Occurs on the Pacific slope of the West Andes in Colombia, from western Chocó and northwestern Antioquia, south to southwestern Valle del Cauca, between c. 06°35’ and 3°N; locally, it spills over onto the east-facing slopes of some ridges in the same range (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

None known.

Favors dense understory vegetation in primary cloud forest ravines and slopes, but apparently not in second growth, between c. 1,300–1,400 and 1,750 m on the west slope of the West Andes, but also at the highest parts, 2,000–2,200 m, on some east-facing ridges (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Presumably resident and sedentary.

Few data, all from the type description (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). Walks and hops along the ground, scratching in leaf litter, and hopping and fluttering briefly up to c. 50 cm to glean arthropod prey from foliage. Pair members tend to keep within 1–2 m of each other.

The stomachs of the holotype and paratype contained arthropod and insect fragments including two small beetles, and a small spider (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). No additional information.

The following is based closely on Stiles et al. (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). The song is a seemingly endless, machine-like series of short, unmodulated, frog-like phrases, each involving c. 7–9 nearly identical notes, which can be repeated up to 1.5 minutes, or more. The churrs at the start of the song are very short (0.83 ± 0.05 seconds) and accompanied by a very long trill (12 seconds) after the first ten phrases. Around the middle of the song, the churrs become shorter (0.51 ± 0.27 seconds), louder, and more spaced until the end of the song. Like other tapaculos, the song is characterized by harmonics, with the first overtone or second harmonic usually the loudest, marked by a peak frequency of 1.97 ± 0.09 kHz, a lower frequency of 1.67 ± 0.13 kHz, a higher frequency of 2.20 ± 0.12 kHz, and a very narrow frequency bandwidth of 0.52 ± 0.13 kHz.

No information, but both specimens had enlarged gonads, suggesting that the species breeds mainly in the middle months of the year, which is the period of lowest rainfall on the western slope of the West Andes (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ).

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. The species’s specific habitat requirements make it vulnerable to habitat degradation and loss, but forests within its range (estimated to cover 13,400 km²) are continuous and not highly threatened (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ). However, S. alvarezlopezi may be susceptible to future climate change, as it could suffer range contractions and habitat loss (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close , see also Velázquez-Tibatá et al. 2 Velázquez-Tibatá, J., P. Salaman, and C. H. Graham (2013). Effects of climate change on species distribution, community structure, and conservation of birds in protected areas in Colombia. Regional Environmental Change 13(2):235–248. Close ). The population size is unknown, but Ecuadorian Tapaculo (S. robbinsi) occurs at a density of c. 2.7 mature individuals per km² in suitable forest (3 Hermes, C., J. Jansen, and M. H. Schaefer (2017). Habitat requirements and population estimate of the endangered Ecuadorian Tapaculo Scytalopus robbinsi. Bird Conservation International 28(2):302–318. Close ); thus, if the present species occurs at a similar density and that c. 20% of the range is occupied, then its population may number c. 7,250 mature individuals. The species is known from several protected areas including Las Orquídeas, Farallones de Cali, and Tatamá National Parks (1 Stiles, F. G., O. Laverde-R., and C. D. Cadena (2017). A new species of tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus) from the Western Andes of Colombia. Auk 134(2):377–392. Close ), as well as Las Tángaras Bird Reserve.

Guy Kirwan grew up in northwest England, close to the one of the world’s largest Larus colonies, and has been interested in birds since the late 1970s. Following a three-year period in the early 1990s working in Turkey for the then BirdLife International International partner, mainly on threatened waterfowl and wetland conservation, which ultimately led to the standard monograph on the country’s birds (Kirwan et al. 2008), his attentions turned primarily to the Neotropics, and the Western Hemisphere in general. He has spent well over 12 years in the field in this region, from Alaska in the extreme north, to Tierra del Fuego in the far south, with special foci on the birds of Brazil and Cuba. Between 1999 and 2010, he was semi-resident in Brazil. Lead author of Cotingas and Manakins (Kirwan & Green 2011), the now-standard work to these perennial favourites among Neotropical birders, and a new field guide to the Birds of the West Indies (Kirwan et al. 2019), he is currently finalizing a detailed checklist to Cuban birds (Kirkconnell et al. in prep.) which should be published in 2020. A freelance ornithologist and editor, notably of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club (since 2004), but also more than 40 books (among them recent titles such as Wildfowl of Europe, Asia and North America by Sébastien Reeber, and the two-volume Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds: Passerines by Hadoram Shirihai & Lars Svensson), his main research interests are in avian taxonomy and the breeding biology of passerines in the New World tropics. To date, Guy has authored more than 150 papers in the technical literature, including the descriptions of three new species, three subspecies and two genera. A Research Associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, he was a member of the now disbanded British Ornithologists’ Union’s Taxonomic Subcommittee, and until recently sat on the board of the Trust for Avian Systematics.