Formicivora

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = White-fringed Antwren (Formicivora grisea).JPG

| image_caption = Southern white-fringed antwren (Formicivora grisea)

| taxon = Formicivora

| authority = Swainson, 1824

| type_species = Formicivora nigricollis{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=108 |title= Thamnophilidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-16}}

| type_species_authority = Swainson, 1825

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

see text.

}}

Formicivora is a genus of insectivorous birds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. These relatively small, long-tailed antbirds are strongly sexually dichromatic. They are found in semi-open habitats in woodland and shrub in South America. They have several rows of white spots on the wings. Males are usually darker below than they are above, and sometimes have a fringe of white on the side.

The genus Formicivora was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1824.{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1824 | title=An inquiry into the natural affinities of the Laniadae, or shrikes; preceded by some observations on the present state of ornithology in this country | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=1 | pages=289–307 [301] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27571028 }}{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1825 | title=On two new genera of birds, Formicivora and Drymophila, with descriptions of several species | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=2 | pages=145–154 [145–149] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27490489 }} The type species is the southern white-fringed antwren.{{ 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 | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=206 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480543 }} The name of the genus Formicivora combines the Latin words formica for "ant" and -vorus "eating" from vorare "to devour".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n163 163] }}

The Sincorá antwren was first described in 2007.{{cite journal | last1=Gonzaga | first1=L.P. | last2=Carvalhaes | first2=A.M.P. | last3=Buzzetti | first3=D.R.C. | year=2007 | title=A new species of Formicivora antwren from the Chapada Diamantina, eastern Brazil (Aves: Passeriformes: Thamnophilidae) | journal=Zootaxa | volume=1473 | pages=25–38 | doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1473.1.2 | url=http://www.planetofbirds.com/ns/Sincora%20Antwren.pdf | access-date=2018-03-07 | archive-date=2017-01-03 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103133200/http://www.planetofbirds.com/ns/Sincora%20Antwren.pdf | url-status=dead }} While initially placed in its own genus Stymphalornis, the marsh antwren belongs in Formicivora.{{ cite journal | last1=Buzzetti | first1=D.R.C. | last2=Belmonte-Lopes | first2=R. |author-link3=Bianca Reinert | last3=Reinert | first3=B.L. | last4=Silveira | first4=L.F. | last5=Bornschein | first5=M.R. | year=2013 | title=A new species of Formicivora Swainson, 1824 (Thamnophilidae) from the state of São Paulo, Brazil | journal=Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia | volume=21 | issue=4 | pages=269–291 | url=http://www4.museu-goeldi.br/revistabrornito/revista/index.php/BJO/article/viewFile/5409/pdf_860 }} In contrast, the black-hooded antwren is not closely related to other Formicivora and may be better placed in its own genus.

There are nine species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Antbirds | work=World Bird List Version 8.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/antbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=4 February 2018 }}

class="wikitable"
Image	Common Name	Scientific Name	Distribution
120px	Narrow-billed antwren	Formicivora iheringi	northern Atlantic Forest
120px	Black-hooded antwren	Formicivora erythronotos	southern Atlantic Forest
120px	Southern white-fringed antwren	Formicivora grisea	northern South America
120px	Northern white-fringed antwren	Formicivora intermedia	Colombia and Venezuela
120px	Serra antwren	Formicivora serrana	mid Atlantic Forest
120px	Black-bellied antwren	Formicivora melanogaster	Brazil and eastern Bolivia
120px	Rusty-backed antwren	Formicivora rufa	Brazil, eastern Bolivia and southern Amazonia
120px	Sincorá antwren	Formicivora grantsaui	Serra do Espinhaço
120px	Marsh antwren	Formicivora acutirostris	southern Atlantic Forest