A new genus and species of tanager (Passeriformes, Thraupidae) from the lower Yungas of western Bolivia and southern Peru

Abstract

Abstract We describe a colorful and distinctive new species of tanager from the lower slopes of the Andes of southeastern Peru and western Bolivia. The species was first noted from southeastern Peru in 2000, but little of its natural history was uncovered until the 2011 discovery of a breeding population in deciduous forest in an intermontane valley, the Machariapo valley, in Bolivia. This species appears to be an intratropical migrant, breeding in deciduous forest during the rainy season (November–March) and spending the dry season dispersed along the lower slopes of the Andes, apparently favoring Guadua bamboo-dominated habitats in both seasons. Phylogenetic evidence suggests this tanager is embedded within a clade of thraupids that includes Ramphocelus, Coryphospingus, Loriotus, Tachyphonus, and related genera in the subfamily Tachyphoninae. Within this subfamily, the new species falls in a clade with two monotypic genera, Eucometis penicillata (Gray-headed Tanager) and Trichothraupis melanops (Black-goggled Tanager). There is strong support for a sister relationship between the new tanager and T. melanops, but because all three species in this clade are highly distinctive phenotypically, we propose erecting a new genus and species name for the new tanager.