Page:Birds of North and Middle America partV Ridgway.djvu/38

KEY TO THE GENERA OF FORMICARIIDÆ.^[1]

a. Planta tarsi compressed and more or less sharply ridged behind, consisting of two parallel rows of scutella or undivided lamina, whose line of contact forms a median posterior ridge. (Formicariinæ.)

b. Second phalanx of middle toe entirely free from outer toe; acrotarsium more or less distinctly scutellate (at least on inner side).

c. Nostril oval or roundish, pierced directly into the completely ossified nasal fossæ, without trace of operculum or adjacent membrane. (Thamnophileæ.)

d. Bill more swollen and relatively shorter and broader, its depth at frontal antiæ much more than one-third the length of the commissure.

e. Tail shorter than wing; tarsus shorter than commissure; plumage narrowly barred, above and below

Cymbilaimus (p. 18).

ee. Tail much longer than wing; tarsus longer than commissure; plumage spotted above, nearly unicolored (not barred) below.

Hypœdaleus (extralimital).^[2]

dd. Bill less swollen, relatively longer and narrower, or else more compressed, its depth at frontal antiæ much less than one-third the length of commissure.

e. Tail much longer than wing.

f. Bill relatively longer (exposed culmen longer than middle toe without claw), much stronger, less tapering terminally, the unguis larger and more abruptly hooked; upper parts transversely barred; very large (total length 300 mm. or more)

Batara (extralimital).^[3]

ff. Bill relatively smaller (exposed culmen not longer than middle toe without claw), much weaker, more tapering terminally, the unguis smaller and weaker; upper parts spotted (not barred) or immaculate; smaller (total length not more than 250 mm.).

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1. In order to show more clearly the relationship of the various groups, a number of extralimital (South American) genera are included. My efforts have been handicapped by the lack of many species desired for comparison, among which are the types of the following generic or subgeneric names:

   Neoctantes Sclater. (Type, Xenops niger Pelzeln.)

   Myrmophila Cabanis and Heine. (Type, Formicivora brevicauda Swainson.)

   Terenura Cabanis and Heine. (Type, Myiothera maculata Maximilian.)

   Psilorhamphus Sclater. (Type, Leptorhynchus guttatus Ménétriés.)

   Microbates Sclater and Salvin. (Type, Rhamphocsenus collaris Pelzeln.)

   Myrmochanes Allen. (Type, M. hypoleucus Allen.)

   Rhopornis Richmond. (Type, Myiothera ardesiaca Maximilian.)

   Sclateria Oberholser. (Type, Sitta naevia Gmelin.) See footnote on p. 16.

   Percnostola Cabanis and Heine. (Type, Lanius funebris Lichtenstein.)

   Thamnocharis Sclater. (Type, Grallaria dignissima Sclater and Salvin.)

   Grallaria Vieillot. (Type, Formicarius varius Boddaert.)

   The genus Terenura, although represented in the geographic field covered by this work, is necessarily omitted from the "key," because I have not been able to examine a specimen of any species. (See p. 83.)
2. Hypoedaleus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, Aug., 1859, 18. Type, Thamnophilus guttatus Vieillot. (Southeastern Brazil; monotypic.)
3. Batara Lesson, Traité d'Orn., 1831, 347. Type, Vanga striata Quoy and Gaimard = Thamnophilus cinereus Vieillot. — Thamnarchus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, 1859, 19. Type, Thamnophilus cinereus Vieillot. (Batara rejected on grounds of purism.) (Southeastern Brazil; monotypic.)