Eastern woodhaunter

At one time what is now the eastern woodhaunter was included in genus Hyloctistes but molecular phylogenetic studies showed that Hyloctistes is embedded within Automolus.[5][6]

Even before the generic merger, the eastern woodhaunter's taxonomy was unsettled, and it remains so. Its two subspecies were included with four others in what was then called the striped woodhaunter. In the early twenty-first century several authors split the four Central American and western South American subspecies from the striped woodhaunter and named the new species the western woodhaunter (then H. virgatus, now A. virgatus). They gave the remaining two subspecies the English name "eastern woodhaunter" and by the principle of priority retained the binomial A. subulatus.[7] The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) adopted the split, though HBW calls A. subulatus the Amazonian woodhaunter.[4][8] The North and South American Classification Committees of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Clements taxonomy have not adopted the split. Both subcommittees of the AOS note that some authors suggest the split, and Clements recognizes virgatus and subulatus/lemae groups within the striped woodhaunter.[9][10][3]

The two subspecies of the eastern woodhaunter are the nominate A. s. subulatus (Spix, 1824) and A. s. lemae (Phelps & Phelps Jr, 1960).[4]

The eastern woodhaunter is 17 to 18 cm (6.7 to 7.1 in) long and weighs about 25 to 38 g (0.88 to 1.3 oz). It is a fairly large member of its genus and has a shortish and heavy bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly dark brownish face with golden-buff streaks, a pale eyering and stripe behind the eye, and grizzled brownish and buff lores. Their crown is dark brownish with golden-buff streaks that widen as they extend onto the rich dark brown upper back. Their lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts are chestnut. Their wings are mostly rufescent brown and their tail chestnut. Their chin is light buff brown with faint darker streaks that become more visible on the lower throat. Their breast is dull medium brown with wide, blurry, golden-buff streaks that fade before the rich tawny brown belly is reached. Their flanks are a darker brown. Their iris is dark brown, their maxilla black to dusky brown, their mandible paler yellowish or bluish gray, and their legs and feet slate gray to olive-gray. Juveniles have less distinct streaking overall and slightly paler underparts than adults. Subspecies A. s. lemae is overall more olivaceous than the nominate, including its back, breast, belly, and its streaking. It also has a more yellowish chin.[7][11][12]

The nominate subspecies of the eastern woodhaunter is found in southern Venezuela, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and Peru, northern Bolivia, and Brazil on both sides of the Amazon to the Rio Negro and beyond that south of the Amazon to Pará state. Subspecies A. s. lemae is found only in Sierra de Lema in the southeastern Venezuelan state of Bolívar. The nominate subspecies primarily inhabits tropical evergreen forest, both várzea and terra firme, and is also found in older secondary forest. A. s. lemae inhabits lower montane evergreen forest. In elevation it mostly occurs below 1,100 m (3,600 ft) but locally reaches 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Peru and 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in Ecuador.[7][11]

The IUCN has assessed the eastern woodhaunter as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range, but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It occurs in a few protected areas, but "[o]ngoing deforestation is likely an issue throughout the species' range".[7]