Research undertaken by Giovanni Mauricio, at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Río Grande Do Sul, Brazil, led to the discovery of a new species of tapaculo. It was named Scytalopus pachecoi, the Planalto Tapaculo. A typical Scytalopus tapaculo, weighing 15 gr and with 12 cm of body size, shares most plumage characters with the rest of the genus. It is diagnosed from the Mouse-coloured tapaculo (Scytalopus speluncae), with which it had been previously confused, by the promminent brown barring in the lower underparts and vent, as well as its different voice.
In Argentina the species is found exclusively in Misiones province (distributed also in adjacent Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), and has two other isolated populations in Brazil, in the Serras of SE Rio Grande, and the Planalto of NE Rio Grande and Southern Santa Catarina. Much of its forest habitat has been cleared, but the species is probably under no immediate threat.
This work has appeared in Ararajuba, the journal of the Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia, in June 2005, and the species was named honouring José Fernando Pacheco, founder of the Brazilian Committee of Ornithological Records, for his outstanding contributions to Brazilian ornithology. |
