All species › Passerines › Antpittas › White-lored Antpitta
White-lored Antpitta | Myrmothera fulviventris
Witteugelmierpitta | Tororoí loriblanco | Torom-de-loro-branco
The White-lored Antpitta is a small antpitta of western Amazonia north of the Amazon, living mainly in dense scrub along rivers and on river islands. It is named after the white lores between bill and eye. Like most antpittas it stays hidden on the ground and is mainly identified by its song.
Voice
The song is a series of hollow whistled notes that speeds up slightly and grows louder, hoo hoo hoo-hoo-ho-ho-ho. It sings mainly in the early morning and at dusk.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
14–15 cm, round and almost tailless on long legs. The head is grey, with a white loral spot and a white crescent behind the eye. The upperparts are olive-brown. The throat is white, the breast whitish with grey streaks; flanks and lower belly are warm rufous to ochre-brown. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Thrush-like Antpitta Myrmothera campanisona has a brown head without white lores and lacks the rufous flanks; it lives in terra firme forest. Spotted Antpitta Hylopezus macularius has buff spectacles, a black malar stripe and black spots on a buff breast. Thicket Antpitta Myrmothera dives is very similar but occurs only in north-western Colombia.
Habitat
Dense scrub and young secondary forest in the lowlands, especially along rivers, on river islands and at the edge of várzea, up to about 400 m; also in dense stands of Heliconia and young Cecropia. It searches the ground for insects and other invertebrates. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the south-east, in Putumayo and Amazonas. In Ecuador in the eastern lowlands. In Peru in the north-east, north of the Amazon and the Marañón. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area at most in a small adjacent part of western Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen in the early morning in dense scrub along the banks and on the islands of the Napo and other large rivers in eastern Ecuador and north-eastern Peru. The bird sings from cover close to the ground.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Riverside habitat is cleared locally, but the range is large and young riverbank vegetation recovers quickly.
Scientific name
Myrmothera fulviventris | (Sclater, 1858) (GBIF: Hylopezus fulviventris)
Sclater described the species in 1858 as Grallaria fulviventris; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Myrmothera was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name combines Ancient Greek murmos, 'ant', with thēras, 'hunter'. The species name comes from Latin fulvus, 'tawny', and venter, 'belly'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Río Napo, Ecuador.