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Spot-crowned Antvireo | Dysithamnus puncticeps
Vlekkapmiervireo | Batarito coronipunteado
The Spot-crowned Antvireo is a small, stocky antbird of humid lowland and foothill forest in southern Central America. The male has a black crown with white spots, the female a rufous crown. It lives in the understorey and joins mixed-species flocks. In the guide area it occurs from south-eastern Costa Rica to eastern Panama.
Voice
An accelerating series of short notes, similar to the song of Plain Antvireo.
Recording: rudy gelis — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
11 cm, stocky, with a fairly thick, slightly hooked bill and a short tail. Male crown black with fine white spots, upperparts grey with an olive tinge, wings dark with two rows of white dots; underparts whitish with fine grey streaks on the breast and an ochre tinge to the belly. Female crown rufous, upperparts olive-brown, wings with ochre dots, underparts ochre with faint breast streaks.
Confusion species
Streak-crowned Antvireo Dysithamnus striaticeps (further north-west) has a streaked rather than spotted crown and more distinct breast streaks. Plain Antvireo Dysithamnus mentalis has a plain crown, a dark cheek patch and no breast streaks.
Habitat
Understorey and middle levels of humid evergreen lowland and foothill forest, from the lowlands to about 1000 m. It gleans insects quietly from leaves and twigs, usually in pairs and often in mixed flocks.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Caribbean slope of south-eastern Costa Rica and Panama; in eastern Panama also on the Pacific slope, including Darién. Outside the guide area in western Colombia and north-western Ecuador.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Found with understorey mixed flocks in humid forest in Panama, for example along the El Llano–Cartí road and in Darién.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Locally fairly common in continuous forest, but sensitive to deforestation.
Scientific name
Dysithamnus puncticeps | Salvin, 1866
Salvin described the species in 1866 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Dysithamnus was introduced in 1847 by Cabanis. Dysithamnus is Greek, from duō 'to plunge into' and thamnos 'bush', after its life in dense undergrowth. puncticeps is Latin, from punctum 'spot' and -ceps '-headed', after the spotted crown. The specimen the first description was based on came from Veraguas, Caribbean lowlands of Panama.