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Ovenbirds (Furnariidae)

Sooty-fronted Spinetail (Synallaxis frontalis) - HBW 8, p. 277

French: Synallaxe à front sombre German: Graustirn-Dickichtschlüpfer Spanish: Pijuí Frentigrís
Other common names: Pelzeln’s Spinetail; Grey-browed Spinetail (“S. poliophrys”)

Taxonomy: Synallaxis frontalis Pelzeln, 1859, Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil.
Considered by some authors to form a superspecies with S. azarae and S. courseni on basis of plumage and vocal similarities. Proposed taxon S. poliophrys was based on a misidentified specimen of present species. Plumage varies clinally, being brightest in NE and dullest in SW; traditionally recognized race fuscipennis, described from Bolivia, almost certainly based on this subtle clinal variation, as none of its alleged characters (broader and greyer frontal band, duller back, brown inner webs of central rectrices) allows diagnosis of individual specimens, even whe.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Synallaxis frontalis Pelzeln, 1859, Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil.
Considered by some authors to form a superspecies with S. azarae and S. courseni on basis of plumage and vocal similarities. Proposed taxon S. poliophrys was based on a misidentified specimen of present species. Plumage varies clinally, being brightest in NE and dullest in SW; traditionally recognized race fuscipennis, described from Bolivia, almost certainly based on this subtle clinal variation, as none of its alleged characters (broader and greyer frontal band, duller back, brown inner webs of central rectrices) allows diagnosis of individual specimens, even when comparing extremes from foothills of Bolivian Andes with distant populations from NE Argentina. Population of R Cotacajes, in Cochabamba (Bolivia), apparently represents an undescribed race. Monotypic.

Distribution: E, S & SE Brazil (Maranhão E to Rio Grande do Norte, and S to Mato Grosso do Sul and N São Paulo, also S Rio Grande do Sul), E Bolivia (Cochabamba S to Tarija and Santa Cruz), N Argentina (S to Mendoza, La Pampa and N Buenos Aires), Paraguay (except SE) and Uruguay.

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