Schwartz's Antthrush Chamaeza turdina Scientific name definitions

This member of the genus Chamaeza has a relatively tiny and highly disjunct range in the north-coastal mountains of Venezuela, and in Colombia’s upper Magdalena and middle Cauca valleys. Two subspecies are recognized for these well-separated populations. The Schwartz’s Antthrush was long considered to be conspecific with the Atlantic Forest endemic, Rufous-tailed Antthrush (Chamaeza ruficauda), but in addition to being obviously highly disjunct geographically, the two differ in both vocalizations and morphology. The species takes its English name from the legendary North American observer and sound recordist Paul Schwartz, a long-time resident of Venezuela, who was a pioneer in the use of avian sounds to resolve taxonomic problems.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

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.