Automolus

Automolus is a genus of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae.

Automolus
White-eyed foliage-gleaner (Automolus leucophthalmus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Furnariidae
Genus:	Automolus Reichenbach, 1853
Type species
Sphenura sulphurascens White-eyed foliage-gleaner Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823

Taxonomy

The genus Automolus was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach to accommodate the taxon Sphenura sulphurascens Lichtenstein, now treated as a subspecies of the white-eyed foliage-gleaner.^[1][2] The name is from the Ancient Greek automolos meaning "deserter".^[3]

Species

The genus contains 11 species:^[4]

• Chestnut-crowned foliage-gleaner, Automolus rufipileatus
• Brown-rumped foliage-gleaner, Automolus melanopezus
• Ochre-throated foliage-gleaner, Automolus ochrolaemus
• Fawn-throated foliage-gleaner, Automolus cervinigularis
• Chiriqui foliage-gleaner, Automolus exsertus – split from buff-throated foliage-gleaner
• Eastern woodhaunter, Automolus subulatus – formerly in Hyloctistes (previously striped woodhaunter)
• Western woodhaunter, Automolus virgatus – split from eastern woodhaunter
• Olive-backed foliage-gleaner, Automolus infuscatus
• Para foliage-gleaner, Automolus paraensis
• Pernambuco foliage-gleaner, Automolus lammi – split from white-eyed foliage-gleaner ^[5]
• White-eyed foliage-gleaner, Automolus leucophthalmus

The tepui foliage-gleaner has been placed in this genus, but behavior, voice, and morphology all point to it belonging in Syndactyla,^[6] and molecular data confirmed this hypothesis.^[7]

The eastern woodhaunter was formerly placed in its own genus Hyloctistes but molecular evidence showed that it was nested in Automolus.^[8] The ruddy foliage-gleaner and the Santa Marta foliage-gleaner, formerly placed in Automolus, are actually more closely related to Clibanornis foliage-gleaners.^[8]