Tapaculos, Rhinocryptidae, are small Passarine Birds found in dense
forests in South America. They are extremely secretive in nature, and thus
particularly hard to study, though the group is known to contain a large number
of highly endemic species (i.e. species with very limited geographical ranges),
each of which is thought to tolerate a very limited range of environmental
conditions.
In a paper published in the
journal The Auk on 11 March 2015, Jorge Enrique Avendaño of the Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva de Vertebrados at the Universidad de los Andes, Andrés Cuervo of the Department of Biological Sciences and Museum of Natural Science
at Louisiana State University and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University, Juan Pablo López-O. of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Natalia Gutiérrez-Pinto of
the Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva de Vertebrados at the Universidad de los
Andes and the Department of Biology at the University of Miami, Alexander Cortés-Diago
of the Fundacion EcoHabitats and Carlos Daniel Cadena also of the Laboratorio
de Biología Evolutiva de Vertebrados at the Universidad de los Andes describe a
new species of Tapaculo from the Serranía de Perijá Mountains on the border
between Colombia and Venezuela.
The new species is placed in the genus Scytalopus, and given the specific name perijanus, in reference to
the area where it was found. They are small grey and brown Birds, massing
16.5-20.5 g with a wing length of 51.5-65.0mm. The males are territorial, and
issue a distinctive ‘churr’ call, followed by between two and sixty five
repeats. This Birds were found living at altitudes of between 1600 m and 3120 m
on the Venezuelan side of the Serranía de Perijá, and between 1600 m and 3225 m
on the Colombian side, though it may formerly have been found lower on both
sides, as below 1600 m the Serranía de Perijá have been largely stripped of
their forests for agriculture.
Female (left) and male (right) Perijá Tapaculo, Scytalopus perijanus attending a nestling (center). Note the more
rufous nuchal patch in the female. Jon Fjeldså in Avendaño et al. (2015).
Scytalopus perijanus appears to favour the elfin and humid forests
and highland bushy paramo between 2500 m and 3000 m. The area where it lives is
highly disturbed by Human activity, with complete forest clearance up to 2000 m
on parts of the Colombian side of the mountains, and a high degree of forest
fragmentation in all areas. The forests have been affected by logging and
clearing for agriculture, including the growing of illicit crops (narcotics),
as well as spraying with herbicides intended to supress the growing of such crops.
The area is currently particularly affected by clearing for Cattle ranching and
fires, with areas cleared for Cattle ranching tending not to return to forest
after being cleared, even if the ranches are subsequently abandoned, creating
areas of fire-vulnerable grassland within the forests. About 300 000 hectares
of humid montane forest and paramo on the Venezuelan side of the border is
protected by the Sierra de Perijá National Park, but no protected areas exist
on the Colombian side of the border.
Map of northern South America showing the location of areas mentioned
in the text, point locality records, and potential distribution of Scytalopus perijanus (light gray
polygons along the Venezuelan–Colombian border). Note the restricted range of
the new species to the northern sector of the Serranía de Perijá mainly above
1,600 m. Avendaño et al. (2015).
The extent to which Scytalopus perijanus is able to tolerate
Human disturbance is unclear, though it appears to be present in areas where
Human habitat modification (such as Coffee farming) and partial logging are
occurring, suggesting that it is able to tolerate some disturbance. However it
was absent in areas where forests had been completely cleared, burned or
replaced by grassland. It is provisionally listed as Endangered under the terms
of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Avendaño et al. note that the Serranía de Perijá are home to a high number
of highly endemic Bird species (i.e. Bird species with very limited
geographical rages) and suggest that the creation of a reserve or network of
reserves similar to the Sierra de Perijá National Park on the Colombian side of
the border should be a priority.
See also…
Birdlife International published an assessment of the conservation status of 350 newly described Bird Species for International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species on 24 July 2014, the first such assessment by the organization...
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