Yellow-throated Antwren

SCI Name:  Myrmotherula ambigua
Protonym:  Myrmotherula ambigua Am.Mus.Novit. no.523 p.5
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thamnophilidae / Myrmotherula
Taxonomy Code:  yetant1
Type Locality:  Playa del Rio Base, 550 feet, Mt. Duida, Venezuela.
Author:  Zimmer, JT
Publish Year:  1932
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MYRMOTHERULA
(Thamnophilidae; Ϯ Pygmy Antwren M. brachyura) Dim. < genus Myrmothera Vieillot, 1816, antpitta; "GENUS II. MYRMOTHERULA.  Cauda brevis; sæpe brevissima: rectricibus plerumque duodecim, interdum decem: rostrum tenue, subulatum, non magis altum quam latum: acrotarsiis et paratarsiis divisis.  In M. pygmæa and the next following species of this genus the tail is very diminutive, and the tail-feathers are much narrowed. In the latter part of the series it is longer and more broadly feathered, but never so elongated as in true Formicivora. The general facies of these two genera is otherwise nearly the same.   1. MYRMOTHERULA PYGMÆA.  Gobemouche à poitrine orangée de Cayenne, Buff. Pl. Enl. 831. fig. 2.  Muscicapa pygmæa, Gm. S. N. i. p. 933.  Myrmothera minuta, D'Orb. Voy. p. 184?  Formicivora pygmæa, Cab. Orn. Not. p. 227; Bp. Consp. p. 200; Sclater, P.Z.S. 1855, p. 147.   ...   2. MYRMOTHERULA SURINAMENSIS   ...   3. MYRMOTHERULA MULTOSTRIATA   ...   4. MYRMOTHERULA GUTTATA   ...   5. MYRMOTHERULA GULARIS   ...   6. MYRMOTHERULA HÆMATONOTA   ...   7. MYRMOTHERULA ORNATA   ...   8. MYRMOTHERULA HAUXWELLI   ...   9. MYRMOTHERULA ERYTHRONOTA   ...   10. MYRMOTHERULA AXILLARIS.  Le grisin de Cayenne, femelle, Buff.   ...   11. MYRMOTHERULA MELÆNA   ...   12. MYRMOTHERULA MENETRIESI   ...   13. MYRMOTHERULA BREVICAUDA   ...   14. MYRMOTHERULAUROSTICTA" (P. Sclater 1858); "Myrmotherula Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 26, 1858, p. 234. Type, by subsequent designation, M. pygmaea, i.e. Muscicapa pygmaea Gmelin = Muscicapa brachyura Hermann (Sclater, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 15, 1890, p. 229)." (Peters 1951, VII, 188).
Var. Myrmetherula, Myrmotheula, Mormotherula.
Synon. Myrmopagis, Myrmophila, Myrmotherium, Poliolaema.

ambigua / ambiguum / ambiguus
L. ambiguus  doubtful, uncertain  < ambigere  to doubt  < preposition  ambi-  around; agere  to set in motion.
● ex “Grand Ara militaire” of Levaillant 1801, who was uncertain as to whether the Great Green Macaw was distinct from the Military Macaw A. militaris or just a constant variety (Ara).
● Despite an apparent series of transitional specimens between the Black-headed Greenfinch and the Oriental Greenfinch C. sinica, Oustalet 1896, still believed them to be two distinct spp. (Chloris).
● “Similar to S. r. rufifrons  ...  Distribution, — Probably Sikhim, Butan Duars, Assam, Naga Hills and Manipur” (Harington 1915) (subsp. Cyanoderma rufifrons).
● “While it is practically certain that this new bird is a conspecies of M. sclateri, the wide gap in the distribution of the two forms with no close relative known from the intervening area makes me hesitate to unite them at present” ( J. Zimmer 1932) (Myrmotherula).
● “Doubtful Toucan ... The species now selected is one I have never seen; but I have no doubt of its existence, and little of the accuracy of its delineation” (Swainson 1823) (Ramphastos).
● “This Bird is very nearly related to Trog. elegans ... These distinctions, although apparently trivial, having been observed ... in many specimens ... he is induced to regard the two Birds as being, very probably, specifically distinct” (Gould 1835) (Trogon).