Tawny-crowned greenlet explained

The tawny-crowned greenlet (Tunchiornis ochraceiceps) is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae and is the only species placed in the genus Tunchiornis. It is found in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.

Taxonomy

The tawny-crowned greenlet was formally described in 1860 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater. The specimen had been collected in the state of Oaxaca of southwest Mexico by the French ornithologist Adolphe Boucard. Sclater coined the binomial name Hylophilus ochraceiceps.^[1] The specific name combines the Modern Latin ochraceus meaning "ochraceous" with -ceps meaning "-capped".^[2] The species is now placed in the monotypic genus Tunchiornis that was introduced in 2014.^{[3] [4]}

Ten subspecies are recognised:^[4]

• T. o. ochraceiceps (Sclater, PL, 1860) – south Mexico, Belize and north Guatemala
• T. o. pallidipectus (Ridgway, 1903) – south Guatemala and Honduras to northwest Panama
• T. o. pacificus (Parkes, 1991) – southeast Costa Rica and west Panama
• T. o. nelsoni (Todd, 1929) – east Panama
• T. o. bulunensis (Hartert, E, 1902) – extreme east Panama, west Colombia and northwest Ecuador
• T. o. ferrugineifrons (Sclater, PL, 1862) – southeast Colombia, south Venezuela, west-central Guyana, northwest Brazil, Ecuador and Peru
• T. o. viridior (Todd, 1929) – south Peru and north Bolivia
• T. o. luteifrons (Sclater, PL, 1881) – east Venezuela, the Guianas and north Brazil
• T. o. lutescens (Snethlage, E, 1914) – north-central Brazil south of the Amazon
• T. o. rubrifrons (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1867) – northeast Brazil south of the Amazon

Further reading

• Book: Skutch, Alexander F. . Alexander Skutch . 1960 . Tawny-crowned greenlet . Life Histories of Central American Birds II . Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 34 . Berkeley, California . Cooper Ornithological Society . https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/pca/pca_034.pdf#page=36 . 35–38 . none .

Notes and References

1. Sclater . Philip Lutley. Philip Sclater . 1860. List of birds collected by M. A. Boucard in the State of Oaxaca in south-western Mexico, with descriptions of new species . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . 27 . 369–393 [375] .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 279 .
3. Slager . David L. . Klicka . John . 2014 . Polyphyly of Hylophilus and a new genus for the Tawny-crowned Greenlet (Aves: Passeriformes: Vireonidae) . Zootaxa . 3884 . 2 . 194–196 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3884.2.8 . 25543778 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2021 . Shrikes, vireos, shrike-babblers . IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 27 July 2021 .