About Myrmeciza atrothorax (Boddaert, 1783)
The black-throated antbird, Myrmeciza atrothorax (Boddaert, 1783), is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 14 to 18 g (0.49 to 0.63 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies M. a. atrothorax have a gray face. Their crown and upperparts are dark yellowish olive-brown that turns blackish on the rump, with a white patch between the shoulders. Their tail is blackish gray, and their wings are dark yellowish olive-brown with black and white tips on the coverts. The center of their throat and breast is black, and the rest of their underparts are gray. Adult females have a dull reddish yellow-brown crown and upperparts, and dark brown wings with light buff tips on the coverts. Their chin and upper throat are white, and the rest of their underparts are cinnamon-rufous with dark olive-brown flanks and crissum. Both sexes have gray legs. Subspecies M. a. metae has gray edges on the black breast feathers, creating a spotty appearance. M. a. tenebrosa has much darker upperparts than the nominate, with much smaller light tips on the wing coverts. Males of this subspecies have blackish gray flanks and belly, and females are darker overall than the nominate. M. a. maynana males have sooty gray upperparts with a faint brownish wash. M. a. melanura varies considerably in its differences from the nominate. In most areas, M. a. melanura males have a grayer forecrown and supercilium, an olive or light russet-brown rump, sooty gray uppertail coverts, and a paler belly. Females of this subspecies have a white belly. Populations of M. a. melanura in eastern Peru and western Brazil have darker underparts in both sexes, and males are mostly black below. Males in the lower Rio Tapajós basin of eastern Brazil have white spots on the black breast. The subspecies of the black-throated antbird have the following distributions: M. a. metae is found in the Meta and Guaviare departments of central Colombia; M. a. atrothorax is found in southern Venezuela, extreme east-central Colombia, the Guianas, and northern Brazil from the Rio Negro east to Amapá state; M. a. tenebrosa is found north of the Amazon in eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and northern Brazil east to the Rio Negro; M. a. maynana is found in north-central Peru south of the Rio Marañón; M. a. melanura is found south of the Amazon in eastern Peru, northern and central Bolivia, and locally in western and central Brazil east to Mato Grosso state. The black-throated antbird lives in a variety of landscapes, many of which are closely associated with water. Across most of its range, it occurs in lowland terra firme, transitional, várzea, and igapó evergreen forest. It strongly favors forest edges, swampy areas along rivers, and regrowing clearings within forest. Along the upper Rio Negro and upper Orinoco, it typically occurs in wet areas within savanna woodlands growing on white sand soils. In Peru and Bolivia, it often associates with stands of Gynerium cane and Guadua bamboo. It remains in the understorey in all habitats.
