Species Limits and Clinal Variation in a Widespread High Andean Furnariid: The Buff-Breasted Earthcreeper (Upucerthia validirostris)

The condor

Juan I. Areta¹ 

关键词: allopatric distribution;    Andes;    Calchaquies Valley;    Furnariidae;    jelskii;    pallida;    playback experiments;    saturata;    validirostris;    vocalizations;   

DOI  :  10.1525/cond.2012.120039

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Central Ornithology Publication Office

【 摘 要 】

Abstract. The Buff-breasted Earthcreeper (Upucerthia validirostris) is endemic to western Argentina, and the Plain-breasted Earthcreeper (U. jelskii, including subspecies saturata in the north and pallida in the south), ranges from northern Peru to northwestern Argentina. They have been considered subspecies, as constituents of a superspecies, and as different species. From north to south, a morphocline, involving an increase of rustiness of the plumage and of ∼15% in bill length, 10% in wing length, and 20% in tail length, links jelskii to validirostris. The cline linking jelskii and pallida is gradual, over ∼1800 km; that between pallida and validirostris is steep, over ∼80 km. The northernmost record of validirostris is from the northern Calchaquies Valley, Salta, northwestern Argentina, a valley surrounded by mountains of up to ∼6300 m above sea level through which the lowest pass is at over 4900 m, forming a barrier between validirostris and the southernmost record of pallida to the north. The song, ...

【 授权许可】

CC BY