Range and natural history of point-tailed palmcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae)

Abstract

The point-tailed palmcreeper Berlepschia rikeri is a distinctive Furnariidae species, very shy and poorly known. In this paper we present natural history notes on this species as well as a detailed review of its range. This paper summarizes anecdotal observations gathered during 10 years of ornithological investigation of the central Brazilian Cerrado, as well as data obtained in 13 Brazilian and overseas collections and from online databases. We found that B. rikeri is widely distributed across north and central South America, where it is strictly associated with palm groves, especially those of Mauritia spp. and Orbignya phalerata. Despite being a habitat specialist, this species can be found in a wide spectrum of vegetation formations, from lowland rainforests to high plateau grasslands. This is an insectivorous species, which constructs a stick nest concealed within the fronds of Mauritia palms. Its juvenile plumage is similar to that of the adult.

Keywords:

• breeding
• diet
• habitat
• plumage

Acknowledgements

LEL received a doctoral fellowship and grants (APQ-04082-10) from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, also benefiting from a collection study grant from the American Museum of Natural History and grants from the Fundação Arthur Bernardes (FUNARPEX 2010 and 2011, FUNARPEQ 2012). We are grateful to the following museum personnel: Joel Cracraft, Paul Sweet and Margaret Hart (AMNH); Hein van Grouw and Mark Adams (BMNH); Brad Livezey and Stephen Rogers (CM); Marcos Rodrigues (DZUFMG); James Remsen (LSUMZ); Anne Previato (MNHN); Jorge Nacinovic and Marcos Raposo (MNRJ); Luís Fábio Silveira (MZUSP); Alexandre Aleixo and Maria Fátima Lima (MPEG); Ulf Johansson and Daniela Kalthoff (NRM); Gerald Mayr (SMF); Storrs Olson and Brian Schmidt (USNM); Sylke Frahnert and Pascal Eckhoff (ZMB) and Markus Unsöld (ZSM). Luane Santos and Vívian Braz shared unpublished records with us. Marcos Lima and Wellington Coelho helped us with the map. IBAMA and ICMBio provided collecting permits. We also thank all those institutions and people that made available online their records through the WikiAves, Xeno-Canto, Macaulay Library, Fonoteca Neotropical Jacques Vielliard, SpeciesLink and ORNIS portals. Two anonymous reviewers presented important contributions to a previous version of this manuscript, providing unpublished data on specimens housed in the YPM.