Perijá tapaculo

Perijá tapaculo

The Perijá tapaculo is a species of passerine bird in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is endemic to the Serranía del Periján mountain range on the Colombia–Venezuela border. The species was only described in 2015 based on sixteen specimens found between July 2008 and February 2009.

About Perijá tapaculo in brief

Summary Perijá tapaculoThe Perijá tapaculo is a species of passerine bird in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is endemic to the Serranía del Periján mountain range on the Colombia–Venezuela border. The species was only described in 2015 based on sixteen specimens found between July 2008 and February 2009. Adults have neutral grey heads, brown necks, brown-sepia striped backs, and grey-white bellies, breasts, and throats. Males have some buff markings on their breasts and less sharp brown spots on their napes than females. It feeds on insects and reproduces between April and July. Its nearest relatives are the brown-rumped tapaculos, Caracas tapacula, and Mérida tapaculia. It measures 10 to 12 centimetres, and its tail is around 40 mm long. The bird is a secretive bird and therefore difficult to observe; as a result its ecology is poorly known.

The type specimen, an adult male, was found near the El Cinco vereda of Manaure, Cesar Department, Colombia, at an altitude of 2,450 m. In September 2006, biologists Juan Pablo López and Alexander Cortés Diago found two specimens in a cloud forest on the western side of the Serranía del Perijá in Colombia, but the information collected was insufficient to identify a new species. New vocal, morphological, genetic, and ecological studies of these specimens confirmed that they constituted anew species, Scytalopus perijanus, first described on 11 March 2015 following a three-year expedition, and accepted by the South American Classification Committee. The Latin word Perijanus refers to the serranía  del Perij range, and the genus name Scytalopus comes from the Greek skutale and pous.