Short-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus ferox) - HBW 9, p. 434

Taxonomy: [Muscicapa] ferox J. F. Gmelin, 1789, Cayenne.
Formerly included M. venezuelensis and M. panamensis as races. Analyses of morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA indicate close affinities with those species and also with M. phaeocephalus, but precise relationships within that group unclear. In study of phylogeny of genus, mtDNA of single individual of M. venezuelensis examined was nested within present species, suggesting past hybridization between the two, or incomplete sorting of mtDNA in this group of species, or misidentification of that single sample (as no voucher was available). Careful ecological and genetic study of these species in zones of parapatry and sympatry should be rewarding. Geographical variation in present species complex and incompletely understood. Plumage differentiation among the three races is slight, and vast zones of intergradation are currently recognized. Populations in hybrid zone between nominate and brunnescens were thought by some earlier authors to be migrant australis, but this is refuted by their having different breeding and moult schedules (many intermediate birds, however, distinguishable from australis only through these differences in timing). Molecular phylogeographical analysis of 14 samples from this intergradation zone and from the core Amazonian range of nominate revealed no phylogeographical structure; notably, samples from these two regions and from a third, C Guyana (Iwokrama), each fell in a different clade; given that no samples from core ranges of either brunnescens or australis were included, however, these results may reflect mtDNA of nominate race only. Further study needed in order to clarify phylogeography and evolutionary history of this species. Three subspecies currently recognized.