Southern chestnut-breasted wren

{{speciesbox

| image = Cyphorhinus_thoracicus_Tschudi_1846.png

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/103889880/94300983 |title=Southern Chestnut-breasted Wren Cyphorhinus thoracicus | author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year=2016 |access-date=19 July 2021}}

| genus = Cyphorhinus

| species = thoracicus

| authority = Tschudi, 1844

| synonyms = Leucolepis thoracicusRemsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021

| range_map = Cyphorhinus thoracicus map 2.svg

}}

The southern chestnut-breasted wren (Cyphorhinus thoracicus) is a species of passerine bird in the wren family Troglodytidae that is found in southern Peru and the extreme northwest of Bolivia. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern chestnut-breasted wren (Cyphorhinus dichrous) with the English name "chestnut-breasted wren".

Taxonomy

The southern chestnut-breasted wren was formally described in 1844 by the Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi based on a specimen collected in Peru. He coined the binomial name Cyphorhinus thoracicus where the specific epithet is Medieval Latin meaning "pectoral" or "of the chest".{{ cite journal | last=Tschudi | first=Johann Jakob von | author-link=Johann Jakob von Tschudi | year=1844 | title=Avium conspectus quae in Republica Peruana reperiuntur et pleraeque observatae vel collectae sunt in itinere | language=Latin | journal=Archiv für Naturgeschichte | volume=10 | page=262-317 [282] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13704185 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=438 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481113 }}{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=thoracicus | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=thoracicus | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=26 October 2024 }} The southern chestnut-breasted wren was formerly treated as conspecific with the northern chestnut-breasted wren (Cyphorhinus dichrous) with the English name "chestnut-breasted wren". The two taxa are now split based on the significant vocal differences despite the minor difference in the color of the plumage.{{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=August 2024 | title=Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sugarbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=26 October 2024 }}

Description

The southern chestnut-breasted wren is {{cvt|11.5|to|15|cm}} long and weighs {{cvt|26.5|to|41|g}}. It has a sooty black crown, a rich dark brown back and rump, and a dark brown tail. It has a deep orange-brown face, throat, and upper belly and dark brown flanks and lower belly. The juvenile differs from the adult in having a paler lower belly.Kroodsma, D. E., J. del Hoyo, D. Brewer, N. Collar, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Chestnut-breasted Wren (Cyphorhinus thoracicus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chbwre1.01 retrieved July 19, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The southern chestnut-breasted wren is found in central Peru and western Bolivia. It inhabits wet montane forest including cloud forest with abundant epiphytes and moss. It is mostly found between {{convert|1200|and|2700|m|ft|abbr=on}} but down to {{convert|800|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Peru's Manú Province.

Behavior

=Feeding=

The chestnut-breasted wren typically remains within {{convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}} of the ground, foraging in leaf litter for invertebrates such as beetles and spiders. It hunts alone, in pairs, or in what are assumed to be small family groups. It only rarely joins mixed-species foraging flocks.

=Breeding=

Little is known about the chesnut-breasted wren's breeding phenology. Its nesting season appears to differ regionally; overall it is protracted. One nest in Peru has been photographed; it was a domed structure of mostly live material set very close to the ground. It contained two eggs.

=Vocalization=

{{birdsong|url=https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Cyphorhinus-thoracicus |species=chestnut-breasted wren }}

The songs of the two chesnut-breasted wren subspecies differ significantly. That of the "southern" C. t. thoracicus is "a variable, musical and usually unhurried series...[of] fluted whistles that differ from each other in pitch, which are then followed by a faster-paced series of 5–11 short whistles...or by a much faster trilled tremolo." Its call is "a low, somewhat frog-like and wooden 'krol'". The song of C. t. dichrous is "a series of usually 3–4 ethereal, clear whistled notes" and its call "a harsh 'churr'".

Status

The IUCN treats the southern chestnut-breasted wren as being of Least Concern. The species is quite common in parts of Colombia, scarce in Ecuador, uncommon to locally common in Peru, and rare to uncommon in Bolivia. It does occur in several protected areas.