The ruddy foliage-gleaner (Clibanornis rubiginosus) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. Its range is highly disjunct, with populations in Mexico, several Central American countries, and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Taxonomy and systematics
The ruddy foliage-gleaner was previously placed in genus Automolus but genetic data place it firmly in Clibanornis. Beyond that change, the species' taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign it these 13 subspecies:
C. r. guerrerensis (Salvin & Godman, 1891) C. r. rubiginosus (Sclater, PL, 1857) C. r. veraepacis (Salvin & Godman, 1891) C. r. fumosus (Salvin & Godman, 1891) C. r. saturatus (Chapman, 1915) C. r. sasaimae (Meyer de Schauensee, 1947) C. r. nigricauda (Hartert, EJO, 1898) C. r. venezuelanus (Zimmer, JT & Phelps, WH, 1947) C. r. cinnamomeigula (Hellmayr, 1905) C. r. caquetae (Meyer de Schauensee, 1947) C. r. brunnescens (Berlioz, 1927) C. r. watkinsi (spelled "watkinsorum" by HBW) (Hellmayr, 1912) C. r. obscurus (Pelzeln, 1859)
The Clements taxonomy adds two more subspecies, C. r. umbrinus (Salvin & Godman, 1891) and C. r. moderatus (Zimmer, 1935). The IOC and HBW include the first in veraepacis and the second in watkinsi.
There are distinct plumage and vocal variations among the subspecies of the ruddy foliage-gleaner, suggesting that more than one species is involved. Subspecies nigricauda and saturatus were together treated as a species early in the twentieth century, and obscurus has been proposed as a separate species. What is now the Santa Marta foliage-gleaner (C. rufipectus) was split from the ruddy foliage-gleaner following a 2008 publication.
This article follows the 13-subspecies model.
Description
The ruddy foliage-gleaner is long, and most subspecies weigh between . (Subspecies obscurus weighs .) The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. r. rubiginosus have a dark reddish brown face with slightly paler lores, faint brighter markings on the ear coverts, and a ring of bare blue skin around the eye. Their crown is very dark brown with a reddish tone and slightly darker scallop markings. Their back is a slightly paler dark reddish brown than the crown, their rump a slightly slightly paler dark brown than the back, and their uppertail coverts dark brown with reddish brown tips. Their wings and tail are also dark reddish brown. Their throat is dark rufous with rufescent brown feather tips and blends to the reddish brown breast that has faint paler spots along the feather shafts. Their belly is rufescent brown, their sides and flanks a darker brown, and their undertail coverts reddish brown. Their iris is dark brown to grayish brown, their maxilla black to gray, their mandible pinkish gray to dusky horn, and their legs and feet brown to grayish olive. Juveniles have a paler ochraceous throat and breast than adults.
The other subspecies of the ruddy foliage-gleaner differ from the nominate and each other thus: