The fuscous flycatcher (Cnemotriccus fuscatus) is a small passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Trinidad and Tobago and in every mainland South American country except Chile.
Taxonomy and systematics
The fuscous flycatcher was originally described as Muscipeta fuscata. It was later transferred to genus Empidochanes and still later to its current genus Cnemotriccus, where it was originally called the dusky flycatcher.
The fuscous flycatcher has these seven subspecies: Within the species, the Clements taxonomy separates C. f. duidae from the other subspecies as the "Fuscous Flycatcher (Campina)".
Description
The fuscous flycatcher is long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. f. fuscatus have a brown crown with a slight rufescent tinge. They have dusky lores, a whitish line above the lores that continues as a supercilium, and a dusky stripe through the eye. Their upperparts are brown with a slight rufescent tinge. Their wings are dusky with wide buffy ends on the coverts that show as two wing bars. Their inner secondaries have thin buff edges and their tertials have whitish edges. Their tail is long and dusky with brown edges on the feathers. Their throat is whitish, their breast olive-gray to grayish brown, and their belly pale yellow. They have a blackish iris, a long thin black bill with a dull pinkish base to the mandible, and black legs and feet.
The other subspecies of the fuscous flycatcher differ from the nominate and each other thus:
- C. f. fuscatior: similar to duidae with dark brown crown and back but less rich olive-brown breast, a somewhat yellower belly, and a completely dark bill
- C. f. bimaculatus: like nominate except for dull brownish gray breast and white belly and completely black bill
- C. f. beniensis: similar to bimaculatus
- C. f. cabanisi: two color morphs; one with grayish upperparts and white belly, the other with brown upperparts and yellow belly
- C. f. duidae: central and southern Amazonas state in southern Venezuela and adjoining upper Negro River basin in northwestern Brazil In Ecuador known mostly along the Napo River