Collared crescentchest
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Collared crescentchest
| image = Melanopareia torquata - Collared Crescentchest.JPG
| image_caption = at Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso State, Brazil
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Melanopareia
| species = torquata
| authority = (Wied-Neuwied, M, 1831)
| synonyms =
| range_map = Melanopareia torquata map.svg
}}
File:Melanopareia torquata 1847.jpg 1847]]
The collared crescentchest (Melanopareia torquata) is a species of suboscine passerine bird in the family Melanopareiidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay.
Taxonomy
The collared crescentchest was formally described in 1831 by the German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied under the binomial name Synallaxis torquatus.{{ cite book | last=Wied-Neuwied | first=Maximilian | author-link=Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied | date=1831 | title=Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien | volume=3, Part 2 | language=German | location=Weimar | publisher= Im Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs | pages=697-700 | url=
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2783445 }} The specific epithet is Latin meaning "collared".{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=torquatus | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=torquatus | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=11 March 2025 }} Wied-Neuwied specified the locality as the "Campo Geral" of inner Brasil. This is the grassland on the border between the Brasilian states of Bahia and Minas Gerais.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1951 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=7 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=281 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480618 }} The collared crescentchest is now one of four crescentchests placed in the genus Melanopareia that was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Antthrushes, antpittas, gnateaters, tapaculos, crescentchests | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/antthrushes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=11 March 2025}}
Three subspecies are recognised:
- M. t. torquata (Wied-Neuwied, M, 1831) – east Brazil
- M. t. rufescens Hellmayr, 1924 – central Brazil and northeast Paraguay
- M. t. bitorquata (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) – east Bolivia
The subspecies M. t. bitorquata has sometimes been treated as a separate species, the double-collared crescentchest.
The crescentchests (genus Melanopareia) were at one time included in family Rhinocryptidae, the tapaculos. A 2010 publication confirmed earlier work and formally created the present family Melanopareiidae.{{cite journal |last=Ericson |first=P.G.P. |last2=Olson |first2=S.L. |last3=Irestedt |first3=M. |last4=Alvarenga |first4=H. |last5=Fjeldså |first5=J. | date=2010 | title=Circumscription of a monophyletic family for the tapaculos (Aves: Rhinocryptidae): Psiloramphus [sic] in and Melanopareia out |journal=Journal of Ornithology |volume=151 | issue=2 | pages=337–345 | doi=10.1007/s10336-009-0460-9 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225356411 }}
Description
The collared crescentchest is {{convert|14.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Two unsexed specimens of M. t. rufescens weighed {{convert|16.5|and|18.0|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The nominate subspecies' back and rump are brown and the underparts buff. The crown of the head is gray brown. It has a narrow white supercilium edged with black, a rufous "collar" on the back of the neck, and a black band across the breast. Subspecies M. t. rufescens is almost identical but its crown is reddish brown.{{cite web | last1=Drucker | first1=J. | date=2020 | title=Collared Crescentchest (Melanopareia torquata), version 1.0 | editor-last=Schulenberg | editor-first=T.S. | work=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.colcre1.01 | access-date=11 March 2025 | url-access=subscription }}
Both sexes of collared crescentchest sing year round, usually from atop a low shrub. The song is "a series of 3-6 loud, resonant 'chip' notes". Its call is "a penetrating churr".
Distribution and habitat
The collared crescentchest is found primarily in central Brazil but also occurs in far northeastern Paraguay. It inhabits cerrado, a biome characterized by a mix of savannah and woodlands. It prefers wetter open areas and avoids disturbed areas. In elevation it ranges up to {{convert|1400|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Behavior
=Feeding=
The collared crescentchest's diet has not been described but the species is assumed to be insectivorous.
=Breeding=
Little is known about the collared crescentchest's breeding phenology. Its nest is a globe of dry grass and leaves placed near the ground. Two eggs are laid and both sexes incubate them and care for nestlings.
Status
The IUCN has assessed the collared crescentchest as being of Least Concern. "Despite widespread degradation of cerrado habitat, the population of Collared Crescentchest is believed to be relatively stable throughout its large range."
References
{{Reflist}}
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