Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Status VU
Habitat destruction and degradation through deforestation as land is cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, facilitated by expansion of the road network, is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Insects, small fruits.
Voice
A distinctive, high pitched, nasal 'whee-ee-ee-ee', 'wheedidididídí' or 'pa-treeer-pa-treeer-pa-treeer'.
Lemon-browed Flycatcher (Conopias cinchoneti) [XC264740]
by David Monroy Rengifo from Zamora-Chinchipe: lower Loja-Zamora road, Ecuador (call, calls)
Lemon-browed Flycatcher (Conopias cinchoneti) [XC871695]
by Juan Freile from PNN Tatam\u00e1 - Cerro Montezuma\t, Colombia (?)
Subspecies
Has been hypothesized, on basis of hole-nesting behaviour, that genus may be most closely related to Myiodynastes, with this clade basal to a "Tyrannus group" that also includes Megarynchus, Tyrannopsis, Empidonomus and Griseotyrannus. However, molecular-sequence data do not support an affinity between these two genera, but strongly suggest that present genus is part of that group to the exclusion of Myiodynastes. Molecular data strongly indicate that present species and Three-striped Flycatcher (Conopias trivirgatus) are sister-species, most closely related to a clade consisting of White-ringed Flycatcher (Conopias albovittatus) and Yellow-throated Flycatcher (Conopias parvus). Geographical limits of subspecies and the differences between them not well defined and may require revision.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
icterophrys (Lafresnaye, 1845) - Western Venezuela (Sierra de Perijá, western slope of Andes in western Mérida and western Trujillo, eastern slope in north-western Barinas), Colombia (locally in all three ranges, but doubtfully on eastern slope of eastern Andes) and extreme north-western Ecuador (Carchi).
cinchoneti (Tschudi, 1844) - Eastern Ecuador (foothills and subtropical zone on eastern slope) and northern and central Andes of Peru (San Martín, Huánuco, Junín, Cuzco).