Rhegmatorhina Explained

Rhegmatorhina is a genus of insectivorous passerine birds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae.

The genus was introduced by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway in 1888 with the bare-eyed antbird (Rhegmatorhina gymnops) as the type species.^[1] The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek words rhēgma, rhēgmatos for "fissure" or "cleft" and rhis, rhinos for "nostril".^[2]

The genus contains the following species:^[3]

• Bare-eyed antbird (Rhegmatorhina gymnops)
• Harlequin antbird (Rhegmatorhina berlepschi)
• White-breasted antbird (Rhegmatorhina hoffmannsi)
• Chestnut-crested antbird (Rhegmatorhina cristata)
• Hairy-crested antbird (Rhegmatorhina melanosticta)

These species are specialist ant-followers that depend upon swarms of army ants to flush insects and other arthropods out of the leaf litter.^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Ridgway . Robert . Robert Ridgway . 1887 . Descriptions of new species and genera of birds from the Lower Amazon . Proceedings of the United States National Museum . 516–528 [525] . Although the title page gives the year as 1887, the volume was not published until 1888.
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 334 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2018 . Antbirds . World Bird List Version 8.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 4 February 2018 .
4. Web site: 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 . 17 February 2018 . subscription .
5. Willis . Edwin O. . Edwin O'Neill Willis . 1969 . On the behavior of five species of Rhegmatorhina, ant-following antbirds of the Amazon basin . Wilson Bulletin . 81 . 362–395 .