Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) [XC285192]
by Carlos Ferrari from Fazenda Angelim, Ubatuba, SP, Brazil (call)
Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) [XC704011]
by Richard E. Webster from RN Chuchini, Beni Department, Bolivia (dawn song)
Subspecies
Affinities uncertain. Possibly sister to Myiozetetes, on basis of syringeal morphology and fully enclosed globular nest. Molecular data give limited support that it is basal to clade including Phelpsia and Philohydor, while additional analyses indicate some affinity to Pitangus and Myiozetetes. A link to Myiozetetes also suggested by piratical nesting behaviour, although observations suggest such behaviour and/or nest adoption either has evolved several times independently or is ancestral trait in the subfamily. Subspecies variegatus indistinguishable from nominate on coloration alone. Subspecies probably meet in Honduras, though limits not well defined. Birds from southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina described as subspecies albicollis, but merely average somewhat larger. Additional molecular data and closer systematic examination needed to establish relationships, and to determine validity of subspecies.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
variegatus (Sclater, PL, 1857) - Eastern Mexico (southern San Luis Potosí east to Tabasco, northern and central Campeche and Quintana Roo to northern Oaxaca and northern Chiapas) to northern and central Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
leucophaius (Vieillot, 1818) - Nicaragua south to Panama and Colombia, then east to Venezuela and the Guianas, Trinidad and Tobago, and south through Ecuador, Peru, north-western and central Brazil (south to Mato Grosso and northern Rio Grande do Sul) and northern and eastern Bolivia to central and eastern Paraguay and northern Argentina (Salta, Jujuy and Tucumán; eastern Formosa, eastern Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet