Black-bellied Antwren

Overview

The black-bellied antwren (Formicivora melanogaster) is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae, commonly known as the typical antbirds. It is classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, although its population is believed to be decreasing.

Identification

• Length is 12 to 14 cm with adult males of the nominate subspecies featuring a wide white supercilium that extends down the neck and widens on the flanks.
• Males possess dark grayish brown upperparts, blackish wings with white-tipped coverts, and a black tail with white feather tips.
• Adult females have browner upperparts, a wide black band through the eye, and white underparts with a faint buff tinge.
• Song consists of a slow series of high, nasal 'tjew' notes at a rate of two per second over eight seconds, accompanied by short complaining squeals and sharp 'seek' notes.

Habitat

The species inhabits the understorey to mid-storey of tropical deciduous forest, gallery forest, caatinga scrublands, and the ecotone between caatinga and cerrado. It also occurs in mata-de-cipó, a biome characterised by a relatively open understorey with a few large emergent trees above a dense mid-storey. Its range spans central Brazil, far northern Paraguay, southeastern Bolivia, and northeastern Brazil.

Diet

The diet includes insects and spiders, with the bird foraging singly, in pairs, in family groups, or within mixed-species feeding flocks. It typically forages from the ground to about 3 m above it, actively gleaning prey from live leaves, vines, branches, and stems in dense shrubs and vine tangles. In areas of mata-de-cipó, it conducts much of its foraging in terrestrial bromeliads.

Did you know?

The nest is constructed as an open cup of plant material lined with fine grass fibres and secured with spiderweb in the fork of a branch. It has not been observed following army ant swarms, distinguishing its foraging behaviour from some other members of the antbird family.