Pithys Explained

Pithys is a genus of insectivorous passerine binds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae.

The species in this genus are specialist ant-followers that depend on swarms of army ants to flush insects and other arthropods out of the leaf litter.^[1]

The genus was erected by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1818.^[2] The type species is the white-plumed antbird (Pithys albifrons).^[3] It contains two species:^[4]

Species

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Pithys albifrons	White-plumed antbird	Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana
	Pithys castaneus	White-masked antbird	Peru.

Notes and References

1. Zimmer . K. . Isler . M.L. . 2018 . 2003 . Typical Antbirds (Thamnophilidae) . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions . 10.2173/bow.thamno3.01 . 216492154 . 17 February 2018 . subscription .
2. Book: Vieillot, Louis Pierre . Louis Pierre Vieillot . 1818 . Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc. . 24 . Paris . Deterville . 112 . 10.5962/bhl.title.20211 . French .
3. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1951 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 7 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 245 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2017 . Antbirds . World Bird List Version 8.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 4 February 2018 .