Upucerthia is a genus of bird in the family Furnariidae.

Upucerthia
Scale-throated earthcreeper (Upucerthia dumetaria)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Furnariidae
Genus: Upucerthia
I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1832
Type species
Upucerthia dumetaria[1]
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1832

Taxonomy and etymology

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Upucerthia is a genus of bird in the family Furnariidae. Established by French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1832, it contains four species known as earthcreepers.[2] Genetic studies done in the early 2000s indicated that the genus as it stood at that time was highly polyphyletic, with species representing four distinct clades.[3] As a result, a total of five former species were moved to other genera. The rock earthcreeper and the straight-billed earthcreeper were moved to the genus Ochetorhynchus.[2][3][4] The Bolivian earthcreeper and the Chaco earthcreeper were moved to the genus Tarphonomus,[2][3][5] and the striated earthcreeper was moved into the monotypic genus Geocerthia.[2][3]

The genus name is a portmanteau of the genus names Upupa (for the hoopoes) and Certhia (for the treecreepers).[6]

List of species

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The following are species recognized by the International Ornithologists' Union as being members of this genus.[2]

The Patagonian forest earthcreeper, described as a distinct species in 1900 but soon lumped as a subspecies of the scale-throated earthcreeper, was designated as a distinct species again in the early 2000s. This determination was based on differences in its morphology, song, breeding habitat, and migration patterns.[7]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Funariidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gill, Donsker & Rasmussen 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Chesser, Barker & Brumfield 2007, p. 1320.
  4. ^ SACC 2007a.
  5. ^ SACC 2007b.
  6. ^ Jobling 2010, p. 396.
  7. ^ Areta & Pearman 2009, p. 135.

Sources

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