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Ihering's Antwren | Myrmotherula iheringi
Iherings miersluiper | Hormiguerito de Ihering | Choquinha-de-ihering
Ihering's Antwren is a small grey antwren of south-western Amazonia. In the guide area it is closely tied to bamboo (Guadua) in lowland forest. The species is named after the German-Brazilian zoologist Hermann von Ihering.
Voice
The song is a series of high, clear notes that speeds up slightly. Calls are short, high whistles.
Recording: Pritam Baruah — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9 cm, with a short tail. The male is grey, with a large black patch on the throat and breast and black wing coverts with white tips. The female is greyish olive above and pale buff below, with pale tips to the wing coverts forming wing bars.
Confusion species
Long-winged Antwren Myrmotherula longipennis has longer wings, a smaller black patch in the male and a browner female, and lives in forest without bamboo. Grey Antwren Myrmotherula menetriesii forages higher in the forest; the female is uniformly ochre below, without wing bars. White-flanked Antwren Myrmotherula axillaris has white flank plumes.
Habitat
Understorey and middle storey of lowland forest, in the guide area mainly in Guadua bamboo thickets within terra firme forest and along forest edges, up to about 600 m. Pairs glean insects from leaves and bamboo stems, often with mixed flocks.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Peru: in the south-east, mainly in Madre de Dios and adjacent Cusco and Puno, locally north to Ucayali. Bolivia: in the far north (Pando), scarce. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in southern Brazilian Amazonia, south of the Amazon.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search bamboo thickets in the lowlands of Madre de Dios, for example along trails near the biological stations on the rivers. Pairs move through the bamboo with mixed flocks, a few metres above the ground.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Tied to bamboo forest, which is still extensive in south-western Amazonia; local loss through deforestation.
Scientific name
Myrmotherula iheringi | Snethlage, HMMEE, 1914
Snethlage, HMMEE described the species in 1914 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Myrmotherula was introduced in 1858 by Sclater. The genus name is a diminutive of Myrmothera (Greek murmos, 'ant', and thēras, 'hunter'): little ant-hunter. The species name honours Hermann von Ihering (1850–1930), German-Brazilian zoologist and director of the Museu Paulista in São Paulo. The specimen the first description was based on came from Boim, Tapajós, Pará, Brazil.