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Ovenbirds (Furnariidae)

Rufous-fronted Thornbird (Phacellodomus rufifrons) - HBW 8, p. 313

French: Synallaxe à front roux German: Rotstirn-Bündelnister Spanish: Espinero Común
Other common names: Common/Plain Thornbird, Plain-fronted/Red-fronted Thornbird; Northern Thornbird (inornatus, castilloi); Maranon/Peruvian Thornbird (peruvianus)

Taxonomy: Anabates rufifrons Wied, 1821, Riberão de Ressaca, Bahia-Minas Gerais border, Brazil.
Considered by some authors to form a superspecies with P. sibilatrix, but the two overlap considerably in distribution, and differ in body size and nest structure. N races inornatus and castilloi sometimes treated as constituting a separate species; peruvianus possibly also a separate species. Proposed race fargoi, from Paraguay and S Brazil (Mato Grosso), described as browner above and with flanks and undertail-coverts more fulvous, but found to be not diagnosable by these characters; treated as synonym of sincipitalis. Six subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • inornatus Ridgway, 1887 - NC Venezuela (SE Falcón, Yaracuy and Carabobo E to Miranda).
  • castilloi Phelps, Jr. & Aveledo, 1987 - W & C Venezuela (Lara, Portuguesa, Barinas and Apure E to Sucre and Monagas) and NE Colombia (Boyacá, Arauca, Casanare, Vichada, NE Meta).
  • peruvianus Hellmayr, 1925 - extreme S Ecuador (S Zamora-Chinchipe) and N Peru (upper Marañón Valley in Amazonas, Cajamarca and San Martín).

     See all 6 subspecies
  • inornatus Ridgway, 1887 - NC Venezuela (SE Falcón, Yaracuy and Carabobo E to Miranda).
  • castilloi Phelps, Jr. & Aveledo, 1987 - W & C Venezuela (Lara, Portuguesa, Barinas and Apure E to Sucre and Monagas) and NE Colombia (Boyacá, Arauca, Casanare, Vichada, NE Meta).
  • peruvianus Hellmayr, 1925 - extreme S Ecuador (S Zamora-Chinchipe) and N Peru (upper Marañón Valley in Amazonas, Cajamarca and San Martín).
  • sincipitalis Cabanis, 1883 - E Bolivia (Beni, Santa Cruz, Tarija), S Brazil (S Mato Grosso), NC Paraguay and NW Argentina (Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán).
  • specularis Hellmayr, 1925 - NE Brazil (Pernambuco).
  • rufifrons (Wied, 1821) - E Brazil (S Maranhão, S Piauí, Bahia, N Minas Gerais).
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