Euscarthmus meloryphus Wied, 1831

Franz, Ismael, Alvares, Diego Janisch & Borges-Martins, Márcio, 2020, Species limits in the Tawny-crowned Pygmy-tyrant Euscarthmus meloryphus complex (Aves: Passeriformes: Tyrannidae), Zootaxa 4809 (3), pp. 475-495 : 482-483

Euscarthmus meloryphus Wied, 1831

Tawny-crowned Pygmy-tyrant

Euscarthmus meloryphus meloryphus Wied, 1831 .

Hapalocercus meloryphus— Pelzeln, 1868: 103.

Hapalocercus meloryphus meloryphus— HARTERT & VENTURINI, 1909: 195.

Hapalocercus fulviceps— Allen, 1892: 53 [from Venezuela, related to “ paulus ”].

Hapalocercus paulus Bangs, 1899: 96 .

Hapalocercus meloryphus paulus— BERLEPSCH, 1907: 487.

Hapalocercus meloryphus fulvicepsoides Sztolcman, 1926: 166 .

Holotype: AMNH 6788 , female, probably from Vale Fundo , southern Bahia, Brazil, according to Wied’s itinerary (Bokermann 1957).

Diagnosis: Euscarthmus meloryphus can be diagnosed from Euscarthmus fulviceps by the upperparts coloration, Brownish Olive (29) (vs. Cinnamon-Brown [33]), chest with gray sides, brownish Glaucous (79) (vs. chest of a plain light Cream Color (54) ( Figure 4 ), presence of a conspicuous rufous crown between Tawny (38) and a dark tone of orange (vs. absence of a conspicuous rufous crown) ( Figure 5 ), total absence of a fulvous “mask”, or, when some fulvous feathers are present, coloration restricted to the immediate eye ring, rarely in the forehead and auriculars, with a superciliary region between the eye and the crown of the same color as the upperparts (vs. presence of a well-marked fulvous mask, Buff-Yellow [53] or light Buff [24], occupying lore, eye ring, auriculars, superciliary, and forehead encroaching on the crown until at least the position of the eye), larger tail (but with overlap), loud song composed by 16–36 notes (vs. 8–11), pace of 25–37 notes/second (vs. 11–15), 7–27 introductory rattle notes (vs. 2–5).

Distribution: Euscarthmus meloryphus is widely distributed in savannahs, dry forests and scrub of two disjunct areas: central, southeast and east South America ( Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, reaching southeast Peru), and north Colombia (Río Magdalena Valley south to Huila) and north Venezuela (east to north Bolívar) ( Figure 1 ). Although there are no estimates of divergence time between these disjoint populations, our SDM indicated potential connectivity during the LGM ( Figures 8 and 9 ).

Remarks: Euscarthmus meloryphus presents intraspecific/individual variation in plumage, related to the amount of rufous in the crown, coloration of the chest (gray in MPEG 51227, brownish in MPEG 21684), fulvous feathers on the sides of the head (in some individuals, totally absent [MNHN 2881]), and coloration of the belly (white or light yellow). As pointed out by Zimmer (1940), specimens from northeastern Brazil have less yellow in the belly and an apparently larger area of orange/rufous on the crown (but which Zimmer 1955 associated with plumage wear). We found the same tendency in specimens of that region, so it will be important to conduct a molecular study to understand the degree of genetic structuring in the taxa of the complex. Nevertheless, voices of northeast Brazilian meloryphus present the same general pattern of the specimens from other regions.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Localities in South America of the 245 skin specimens (squares), and 94 voice recordings (circles) of Euscarthmus m. meloryphus (orange), E. meloryphus paulus (yellow), and E. meloryphus fulviceps (red), examined in this study.

FIGURE 4. Ventral and dorsal views of Euscarthmus m. meloryphus (from left to right: AMNH 796106, 498921, 243777), E. meloryphus fulviceps (AMNH 185827, 185828, 185830), and E. meloryphus paulus (AMNH 150462, 150458, 150461).

FIGURE 5. Dorsal and lateral detail of the head of Euscarthmus m. meloryphus (left and bottom; AMNH 243783), and E. meloryphus fulviceps (right and top; AMNH 185827).

FIGURE 8. Species Distribution Modeling of populations identified as Euscarthmus meloryphus meloryphus for the present (top) and the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kyr BP; bottom). Training AUC = 0.8827, test AUC = 0.817. Occurrence points are presented as white circles.

FIGURE 9. Species Distribution Modeling of populations identified as Euscarthmus meloryphus paulus for the present (top) and the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kyr BP; bottom). Training AUC = 0.9706, test AUC = 0.9376. Occurrence points are presented as white circles.