The rufous-tailed tyrant (Knipolegus poecilurus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
The rufous-tailed tyrant was formally described in 1862 as Empidochanes poecilurus. Later authors placed it genera Cnemotriccus and by itself in Eumyiobius. A 1937 publication placed it in its current genus Knipolegus.
The rufous-tailed tyrant has these five subspecies:
K. p. poecilurus (Sclater, PL, 1862)
K. p. venezuelanus (Hellmayr, 1927)
K. p. paraquensis Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1949
K. p. salvini (Sclater, PL, 1888)
K. p. peruanus (Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1896)
However, each subspecies is as variable as the species as a whole and there are no significant genetic differences among them.
Description
The rufous-tailed tyrant is 14.5 to 15 cm (5.7 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 13 to 15 g (0.46 to 0.53 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies K. p. poecilurus have a mostly grayish to brownish gray head and upperparts with a whitish throat. Their wings are dusky with buff edges on the inner remiges and buffy-gray tips on the coverts that show as two wing bars. Their tail is dusky with wide cinnamon edges on the inner webs that are conspicuous in flight. Their underparts are dull buffy gray or cinnamon-buff with a gray wash on the breast. Adult females are very similar to males but slightly browner overall. Both sexes have a red iris, a longish black bill, and black legs and feet. Juveniles have a cinnamon wash, more rufous in the tail than adults, cinnamon wing bars, and a brown iris.
The other subspecies of the rufous-tailed tyrant differ from the nominate and each other thus:
K. p. salvini: grayer upperparts than nominate, with no wing bars, little rufous in tail, white belly, and rufous vent
K. p. venezuelanus: intermediate between salvini and nominate
K. p. paraquensis: smaller and darker than...
