Ceara Gnateater Conopophaga cearae Scientific name definitions

Ceara Gnateater is a very poorly known species that is endemic to a small region in northeastern Brazil. Previously this species was classified as a subspecies of the more widespread Rufous Gnateater (Conopophaga lineata), which has a generally similar plumage pattern, but the color of the throat and breast of Ceara Gnateater is more orangey. Genetic analysis also reveals that these two species are not particularly closely related, and their songs are reported to differ - although songs also vary quite a bit within Rufous Gnateater. Otherwise very little is known about Ceara Gnateater, but presumably its natural history is similar to that of other members of the genus.

11·5–14 cm. Adult is distinctive compared to formerly conspecific C. lineata, having more deeply orangey plumage, and no or reduced white breast-crescent; for further distinctions, see Taxonomy (above).

NE Brazil in N Ceará (Serra de Baturité) and locally from Rio Grande do Norte (3 Olmos, F. (2003). Birds of Mata Estrela private reserve, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Cotinga 20: 26–30. Close ) S to Alagoas (4 Silveira, L.F., Olmos, F. and Long, A.J. (2003). Birds in Atlantic Forest fragments in north-east Brazil. Cotinga 20: 32–46. Close ).

Largely restricted to upland evergreen forest (known locally as brejo), but in Rio Grande do Norte has also been recorded in denser areas of scrubby restinga within narrow coastal dune slacks (and is replaced by C. melanops inside taller, more humid forest just inland of these); exclusively above 600 m in the Serra de Baturité.

Diet and foraging behaviour presumably very similar to those of C. lineata, but no specific data available.

Apparently no known differences compared to C. lineata.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Locally common in the Serra de Baturité, in Ceará, where it has adapted to more degraded areas of habitat; and recently discovered in the nearby Serra do Machado, but not in the Serras de Aratanha and Maranguape. Elsewhere, apparently known from approximately a handful of localities in Alagoas, with no records from neighbouring Sergipe; and only recently discovered in Rio Grande do Norte.