White-browed brush finch

White-browed brush finch
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Emberizidae
Genus:	Arremon
Species:	A. torquatus
Binomial name
Arremon torquatus (Lafresnaye & D'Orbigny, 1837)
Synonyms
Buarremon torquatus (Lafresnaye & D'Orbigny, 1837)

The white-browed brush finch (Arremon torquatus) is a species of bird in the Emberizidae family. It is found in north-western Argentina, Bolivia, and southern Peru. It is generally common in forest and dense second growth, mainly at altitudes of 2,000 to 3,000 metres (6,600 to 9,800 ft), but locally it occurs at far lower altitudes.^[2]

Taxonomy

Until recently, the white-browed brush finch was placed in the genus Buarremon.^[3]

Considerable racial variation existed in the formerly named stripe-headed brush finch, and based on ecology, morphology, song, and molecular work it was recently suggested that it be split into eight species.^[4] These are:^[4]

• White-browed brush finch, Arremon torquatus (with subspecies fimbriatus and borelli) in the Andes from north-western Argentina to far southern Peru.
• Costa Rican brush finch, Arremon costaricensis (monotypic) in Costa Rica and western Panama.
• Black-headed brush finch, Arremon atricapillus (with subspecies tacarcunae) in eastern Panama and northern Colombia.
• Grey-browed brush finch, Arremon assimilis (with subspecies larensis, nigrifrons and poliophrys) in the Andes from Peru to Venezuela.
• Perijá brush finch, Arremon perijanus (monotypic) in the Perijá Mountains on the border of Colombia and Venezuela.
• Sierra Nevada brush finch, Arremon basilicus (monotypic) in the Santa Marta Mountains in Colombia.
• Caracas brush finch, Arremon phaeopleurus (monotypic) in the western Venezuelan Coastal Range.
• Paria brush finch Arremon phygas (monotypic) in the eastern Venezuelan Coastal Range.

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Arremon torquatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
2. Ridgely, R. S., & G. Tudor. (1989). Birds of South America. The Oscine Passerines. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-857217-4
3. Cadena, C. D., J. Klicka and R. E. Ricklefs. (2007). Evolutionary differentiation in the Neotropical montane region: molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of Buarremon brush-finches (Aves, Emberizidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 44(3): 993-1016.
4. Cadena, C. D., and A. M. Cuervo (2009). Molecules, ecology, morphology, and songs in concert: how many species is Arremon torquatus (Aves: Emberizidae)? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 99(1): 152-176

• South American Classification Committee (September 2010). "Proposal (#468) to South American Classification Committee – Species limits in Arremon torquatus.". Retrieved July 24, 2012.