Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens) [XC832972]
by Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Loaiza B. from Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, Pichincha, Parroquia Nanegalito, Nueva Granada, Hacienda Los Yumbos, Ecuador (call)
Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens) [XC260670]
by Mitch Lysinger from Napo: 'Caba\u00f1as San Isidro', 1-2 km SW Cosanga, Ecuador (call)
Subspecies
Genus probably closest to Premnornis, and this supported by anatomical data. Both genera merged with Margarornis by some authors. Forms a superspecies with White-throated Barbtail (Premnoplex tatei), and sometimes treated as conspecific. Populations in Trujillo and Barinas (Venezuela) tentatively placed with nominate subspecies. Further study is required.
Proposed Panamanian subspecies albescens (eastern Darién) and mnionophilus (Cerro Campana) considered indistinguishable from nominate, and distinctus (Veraguas) indistinguishable from brunneicauda.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
brunneicauda (Lawrence, 1865) - Mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama (eastern as far as Veraguas).
brunnescens (Sclater, 1856) - Cerros Tacarcuna, Pirre and Mali and Serranía de Majé (extreme eastern Panama and north-western Colombia), Perijá Mts and Andes of western Venezuela (Trujillo, Barinas, Mérida, Táchira), southern (in all three ranges in Colombia, also Macarena Mts, in southern Meta) to Ecuador and Peru (south to Cuzco).
coloratus Bangs, 1902 - Santa Marta Mts of northern Colombia.
rostratus Hellmayr & Seilern, 1912 - Coastal mountains of northern Venezuela (Lara east to Miranda and Aragua).
stictonotus (von Berlepsch, 1901) - Andes from southern Peru (Puno) south to western and central Bolivia (south to Cochabamba).
albescens Griscom, 1927 - Subtropical mountains of eastern Panama (Cerro Tacarcuna).
distinctus Griscom, 1927 - Subtropical mountains of central Panama (Veraguas).
mnionophilus Wetmore, 1951 - Mountains of Panama (western San Blas).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet