Rusty-backed Antwren (Formicivora rufa)

Identification & Behavior: ~14 cm (5.5 in). The male Rusty-backed Antwren has mostly rusty upperparts, tail, and flanks. The wing coverts are dusky dotted with white forming wing bars. The throat, breast, and belly are black bordered by white. The female is similar but has white underparts streaked with black. Both sexes have a long and graduated tail tipped with white dots. It forages in scrub, hedgerows, and scrub islands in pastures. The plumage and long tipped tail are unique in their range in Peru.

Status: The Rusty-backed Antwren is uncommon and very local known to occur in widely disjunct populations. It also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Hormiguerito de Dorso Rojizo.

Sub-species: Rusty-backed Antwren  (Formicivora rufa urubambae), J. T. Zimmer, 1932.  E Peru (locally on E foothills of the Andes in San Martín and Cuzco).
(Formicivora rufa rufa), (Wied, 1831). SC & E Brazil (S Amazonas and extreme E Acre E to C Mato Grosso and Goiás, and from coastal Pernambuco, S to Mato Grosso do Sul and N São Paulo) S to extreme SE Peru (extreme E Madre de Dios), E Bolivia (Beni, La Paz, NE Cochabamba, Santa Cruz), and C & NE Paraguay (locally along R Paraguay and in N Amambay).

Meaning of Name: Formicivora: L. formica= ant and vorus, vorare= eating, to devour. rufa: L. rufus= red, ruddy.

See more of the Family Thamnophilidae