Grallaria rufocinerea Sclater & Salvin 1879

Bicolored Antpitta

Includes populations designated rufocinerea and romeroana in the analysis.

Diagnosis. Differs from all other species in the complex in having gray underparts that contrast sharply with its rufous head, throat, and upperparts. Its long song (Fig. 5), a nearly evenly paced series of similar notes, distinguishes G. rufocinerea from all other taxa in the complex, except G. rufula sensu stricto. Its single-noted short song distinguishes G. rufocinerea from G. rufula sensu stricto and from all other taxa except G. centralis and G. ayacuchensis; it is distinguished from the latter two species by greater duration and by note shape, which is flat or very slightly upslurred, as contrasted with G. centralis (inverted U) and G. ayacuchensis (downslurred).

Distribution. Central Andes from central Antioquia, Colombia, south to the upper Magdalena Valley and along the eastern slope from Cauca, Colombia, to Sucumbíos, Ecuador, 1950–3250 m.

Plumage. The dark gray underparts of G. rufocinerea are unique in the G. rufula complex (specimen photographs App. 6, Figs. A17 and A 18).

Remarks. Species status is supported by vocal as well as plumage characters. Reexamination of the taxonomic status of romeroana (Hernández & Rodríguez, 1979) requires more vocal data, especially recordings of its long song, as well as additional plumage comparisons with the nominate. Pending that review, we recommend its maintenance as a subspecies of rufocinerea based on the original description. The geographic range of G. rufocinerea is sympatric/parapatric with that of northern populations of G. saturata (see below).

PRINCIPAL CLADE C. This clade includes rufula 2 of the Central Andes of Colombia with an outlying population (rufula 2a) on the western slope of the Eastern Andes, rufula 4 in the Western Andes of Colombia, and rufula 5 of the Andes from southern Colombia to extreme northern Peru. The structure of their short songs is distinct from those of all other populations.