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

[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, ...

[学科分类] 动物科学

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