Canasteros and thistletails are the small passerine birds of South America belonging to the genus Asthenes. Canastero is Spanish for 'basket-maker', referring to the large, domed nests these species make of sticks or grass. They inhabit shrublands and grasslands in temperate climates from the lowlands to the highlands. They feed on insects and other invertebrates gleaned from the ground or the low vegetation.
Taxonomy
The genus Asthenes was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The name is from Ancient Greek: asthenēs 'insignificant'. The type species was designated by George Robert Gray in 1855 as Synallaxis sordida Lesson. This taxon is now considered to be a subspecies of the sharp-billed canastero (Asthenes pyrrholeuca sordida).
In 2010, it was discovered that the thistletails and the Itatiaia spinetail, formerly placed in their own genera (Schizoeaca and Oreophylax, respectively), are actually part of a rapid radiation of long-tailed Asthenes. At the same time, four species, the cactus, dusky-tailed, Steinbach's and Patagonian canasteros, were split off into the new genus Pseudasthenes.
The genus contains 29 species:
Image
Scientific name
Common name
Distribution
Pale-tailed canastero
Asthenes huancavelicae
Peru
Dark-winged canastero
Asthenes arequipae
Puna grassland
Rusty-vented canastero
Asthenes dorbignyi
southern Peru
Berlepsch's canastero
Asthenes berlepschi
western Bolivia
Short-billed canastero
Asthenes baeri
Argentina, western Paraguay and Uruguay
Cipo canastero
Asthenes luizae
Serra do Cipó
Hudson's canastero
Asthenes hudsoni
Argentina and Uruguay
Austral canastero
Asthenes anthoides
western Patagonia and Los Lagos Region
Line-fronted canastero
Asthenes urubambensis
Peru and Bolivia
Many-striped canastero
Asthenes flammulata
northern Andes
Junin canastero
Asthenes virgata
central Peru
Scribble-tailed canastero
Asthenes maculicauda
central Andes
Streak-backed...
