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Summary

The golden-bellied flycatcher (Myiodynastes hemichrysus) is a passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Taxonomy and systematics

The golden-bellied flycatcher has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described as Hypermitres hemichrysus. By the early 1900s it had been reassigned to genus Myiodynastes, which had been erected in 1847. A 1927 publication treated it as a subspecies of the golden-crowned flycatcher (M. chrysocephalus).

By at least 1979 it was again being treated as a full species. At that time it was considered monotypic. A 2016 publication detailed the vocal differences and similarities between the golden-bellied flycatcher and the three subspecies of the golden-crowned flycatcher. Based on that study, by 2020 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World moved two subspecies from the golden-crowned to the golden-bellied. The Clements taxonomy followed suit in 2022 and the IOC and both subcommittees of the American Ornithological Society in 2023. The golden-bellied and golden-crowned flycatchers are sister species.

The golden-bellied flycatcher has these three subspecies:

M. h. hemichrysus (Cabanis, 1861) M. h. minor Taczanowski & Berlepsch, 1885 M. h. cinerascens Todd, 1912

Description

The golden-bellied flycatcher is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs about 39 to 42.5 g (1.4 to 1.5 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. h. hemichrysus have a thinly black-streaked, dusky grayish olive or dark sooty gray, crown and nape with a large, usually hidden, yellow patch in the center of the crown. They have a wide white supercilium, a wide blackish stripe through the lores and ear coverts, and a grayish olive or dusky cheek with a whitish stripe through it. Their upperparts are mostly olive green with a greenish rump and uppertail coverts; the last have cinnamon edges at their...