Apurimac Spinetail (Synallaxis courseni)

About the Apurimac Spinetail

The Apurimac spinetail (Synallaxis courseni) is a Vulnerable species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Peru. The Apurimac spinetail was thought to be most closely related to the slaty spinetail (S. brachyura). By the late twentieth century it was considered more closely related to Azara's spinetail (S. azarae) and a study published in 2011 confirmed that. Some authors have suggested that it is best treated as a subspecies of Azara's spinetail. Blake, who first described the Apurimac spinetail, chose its specific epithet courseni to honor C. Blair Coursen, "whose interest in neotropical birds and timely generosity in support of field work have resulted in important Peruvian collections" from which the holotype came. The Apurimac spinetail is monotypic.