Phlegopsis

"Bare-eye" redirects here. For human visual perception that is unaided by a magnifying or light-collecting optical device, see Bare eye.

Phlegopsis is a genus of insectivorous passerine birds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. They are known as "bare-eyes", which is a reference to a colourful bare patch of skin around their eyes. They are restricted to humid forest in the Amazon of South America. They are among the largest ant-followers in the family and are only rarely seen away from ant swarms.

Phlegopsis
Black-spotted bare-eye (Phlegopsis nigromaculata)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thamnophilidae
Genus:	Phlegopsis Reichenbach, 1850
Type species
Myiothera nigromaculata[1] d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837

Taxonomy

The pale-faced bare-eye, sometimes known as the pale-faced antbird, has often been placed in the monotypic genus Skutchia, but based on genetic evidence it should be placed in Phlegopsis,^[2] and this treatment was adopted by the SACC in 2010.^[3] Based on a single specimen a fourth species, the Argus bare-eye (P. barringeri) has been proposed, but it is a hybrid between P. erythroptera and P. nigromaculata.^[4]

The genus contains three species:^[5]

• Reddish-winged bare-eye (Phlegopsis erythroptera)
• Black-spotted bare-eye (Phlegopsis nigromaculata)
• Pale-faced bare-eye (Phlegopsis borbae)