The many-striped canastero (Asthenes flammulata) is a species of passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The many-striped canastero was described as Synalaxis flammulatus by William Jardine in 1850 from a specimen taken in Andean tablelands near Quito. As of 2023 its taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee and the Clements taxonomy recognize these five subspecies:
A. f. multostriata (Sclater, 1858)
A. f. quindiana (Chapman, 1915)
A. f. flammulata (Jardine, 1850)
A. f. pallida Carriker, 1933
A. f. taczanowskii (von Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1894)
However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World does not recognize A. f. pallida but includes it within A. f. taczanowskii.
What are now the Junin canastero (A. virgata) and scribble-tailed canastero (A. maculicauda) have at times been suggested as additional subspecies of the many-striped canastero. Genetic data show the three to be separate but closely related sister species.
In central Peru the many-striped canastero's range slightly overlaps that of the Junin canastero, and hybrids of the two species are known from that zone.
The nominate subspecies A. f. flammulata has been called Jardine's spine-tail.
