Austral negrito explained

The austral negrito or Patagonian negrito (Lessonia rufa) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It breeds in Argentina and Chile, migrating north as far as Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It is a vagrant to the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands territory. It has also been seen in the South Shetland Islands.^[1] Its natural habitats are freshwater lakes and saline marshes. It is primarily insectivorous^[2] but can eat algae. It hunts in grassland environments with short grass.^[3] It perches and moves throughout foliage such as shrubs in order to find prey.

Taxonomy

The austral negrito was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the larks in the genus Alauda and coined the binomial name Alauda rufa.^{[4] [5]} The specific epithet is from Latin rufus meaning "red", "ruddy" or "rufous".^[6] Gmelin based his description on "L'alouette noire à dos fauve" from Buenos Aires that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon and illustrated with a hand-coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet.^{[7] [8]} The austral negrito is now placed together with the Andean negrito in the genus Lessonia that was introduced in 1832 by William Swainson.^[9] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.^[9]

Notes and References

1. Gryz. Piotr. Korczak−Abshire. Małgorzata. Gerlée. Alina. 2015-09-01. First record of the Austral Negrito (Aves: Passeriformes) from the South Shetlands, Antarctica. Polish Polar Research. 36. 3. 297–304. 10.1515/popore-2015-0018. 2081-8262.
2. Gorosito. Cristian Andrés. Cueto. Víctor Rodolfo. 2019-12-07. Do small cities affect bird assemblages? An evaluation from Patagonia. Urban Ecosystems. 23. 2. 289–300. 10.1007/s11252-019-00915-0. 208745995. 1083-8155.
3. Azpiroz. Adrián B.. Isacch. Juan Pablo. Dias. Rafael A.. Di Giacomo. Adrián S.. Fontana. Carla Suertegaray. Palarea. Cristina Morales. 2012-08-24. Ecology and conservation of grassland birds in southeastern South America: a review. Journal of Field Ornithology. 83. 3. 217–246. 10.1111/j.1557-9263.2012.00372.x. 0273-8570. 11336/203537. free.
4. Book: Gmelin, Johann Friedrich . Johann Friedrich Gmelin. 1789 . Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 13th . 1, Part 2 . Latin . Lipsiae [Leipzig] . Georg. Emanuel. Beer . 792 .
5. Book: Traylor . Melvin A. Jr . Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. . 1979 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 8 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 173 .
6. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 341 .
7. Book: Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . 1778 . Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . 5 . Paris . De l'Imprimerie Royale . 23–24 . L'alouette noire à dos fauve . French . https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069716w/f47.item .
8. Book: Buffon . Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . Martinet . François-Nicolas . François-Nicolas Martinet . Daubenton . Edme-Louis . Edme-Louis Daubenton . Daubenton . Louis-Jean-Marie . Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton . 1765–1783 . Alouette noire, de la Encenada . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle . 8 . Paris . De L'Imprimerie Royale . Plate 738, Fig. 2 . https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218371 .
9. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2023 . Tyrant flycatchers . IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 20 March 2023 .