Canastero

Canasteros and thistletails are small passerine birds of South America belonging to the genus Asthenes. The name "canastero" comes from Spanish and means "basket-maker", referring to the large, domed nests these species make of sticks or grass. They inhabit shrublands and grasslands in temperate climates from the lowlands to the highlands. They feed on insects and other invertebrates gleaned from the ground or the low vegetation.

Canasteros
Cordilleran canastero (Asthenes modesta)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Furnariidae
Genus: Asthenes
Reichenbach, 1853
Type species
Synallaxis sordida
Sharp-billed canastero
Lesson, 1839
Species

see text

Synonyms[1][2]

Taxonomy

The genus Asthenes was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.[3] The name is from Ancient Greek asthenēs meaning "insignificant".[4] The type species was designated by George Robert Gray in 1855 as Synallaxis sordida Lesson.[5][6] This taxon is now considered to be a subspecies of the sharp-billed canastero (Asthenes pyrrholeuca sordida).[7]

In 2010, it was discovered that the thistletails and the Itatiaia spinetail, formerly placed in their own genera (Schizoeaca and Oreophylax, respectively), are actually part of a rapid radiation of long-tailed Asthenes.[2] At the same time, four species, the cactus, dusky-tailed, Steinbach's and Patagonian canasteros, were split off into the new genus Pseudasthenes.[2]

Species

The genus contains 29 species:[7]

Description

They are typically 15–18 centimetres (5.9–7.1 in) long and slim with long tails and thin, pointed bills. They are mostly dull and brown in colour but vary in tail pattern and presence of streaking. They have trilling songs.

Distribution and habitat

Most species occur in open country, including mesic to arid scrublands and grasslands. Some species inhabit dry forests. Only three species are migratory.[8]

References
  1. Asthenes Reichenbach, 1853 . Retrieved through: Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera on 2019-08-14.
  2. Derryberry, Elizabeth; Claramunt, Santiago; O’Quin, Kelly E.; Aleixo, Alexandre; Chesser, R. Terry; Remsen, J.V.; Brumfield, Robb T. (2010). "Pseudasthenes, a new genus of ovenbird (Aves: Passeriformes: Furnariidae)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2416: 61–68. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  3. Reichenbach, Ludwig (1853). "Icones ad synopsin avium No. 10 Scansoriae A". Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie (in German). Dresden und Leipzig: Expedition Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte. pp. 145–218 [146, 168].
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 27.
  6. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1951). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 7. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 103.
  7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Ovenbirds, woodcreepers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  8. Claramunt, Santiago; Aldabe, Joaquín; Etchevers, Ismael; Di Giacomo, Adrián S.; Kopuchián, Cecilia; Milensky, Christopher M. (2022). "Distribution, migratory behavior, and conservation of Hudson's Canastero Asthenes hudsoni (Furnariidae): a grassland specialist from the humid Pampas". Avian Conservation and Ecology. 17 (1).
Wikispecies has information related to Asthenes.


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