The ochre-bellied flycatcher (Mionectes oleagineus) is a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It is found in Mexico, Central America, Trinidad and Tobago, and northern South America.
Taxonomy and systematics
For a time in the mid-twentieth century the ochre-bellied flycatcher was placed in genus Pipromorpha, which by the 1980s had been merged into Mionectes. A study published in 2008 suggested that Pipromorpha be resurrected for this species and two others but that action has not been followed. The study did reveal that, rather than the uplifting of the Andes giving rise to the ochre-bellied flycatcher's subspecies, at least four separate lineages including some trans-Andean movement are responsible. It also suggested that the ochre-bellied flycatcher might comprise more than one species.
As of late 2024 the ochre-bellied flycatcher had these seven subspecies:
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the ochre-bellied flycatcher are found thus:
- M. o. assimilis: from Veracruz, Oaxaca, and the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico south on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes through Central America into western Panama.
- M. o. parcus: from the Canal Zone in eastern Panama across west-central and northern Colombia into northwestern Venezuela as far as western Trujillo state and south in the valleys of Colombia's Cauca and Magdalena rivers
- M. o. abdominalis: the Venezuelan Coastal Range from Yaracuy east to the Capital District and Miranda's Cerro Negro
- M. o. pallidiventris: Trinidad, Tobago, and the northeastern Venezuelan states of Anzoátegui, Sucre, Monagas, and Delta Amacuro
- M. o. dorsalis: the tepuis Chimantá and Roraima in southern Venezuela
- M. o. pacificus: from Nariño Department in far southwestern Colombia south on the western Andean slope through western Ecuador into far northwestern Peru's Tumbes Department
- M. o. oleagineus: the eastern half of Colombia, southeastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and the Amazon Basin in Brazil, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia; separately in coastal southeastern Brazil between Paraíba and Rio do Janeiro states
The ochre-bellied flycatcher generally inhabits the interior and edges of humid to wet evergreen forest, semi-deciduous forest, and nearby secondary forest in the tropical and subtropical zones. It also inhabits gallery forest, plantations, gardens, and in the Amazon Basin both várzea and terra firme forest. In elevation it occurs from sea level to in northern Central America, to in Costa Rica, to in Colombia, to in western Venezuela, to in eastern Venezuela except on the tepuis, and between on the Venezuelan tepuis. It occurs from sea level to in Brazil, mostly below in Ecuador, and below in Peru.
Behavior
Movement
The ochre-bellied flycatcher is a year-round resident.