El Oro Tapaculo

Open encyclopedia reference

The Ecuadorian tapaculo or El Oro tapaculo (Scytalopus robbinsi) is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Scytalopus, a genus of tapaculos. It is restricted to a small area in south-western Ecuador and was not described until 1997.

It is a small tapaculo, 11 centimetres long. The bill is black and fairly heavy. The plumage is grey with a brown nape and rump and brown barring on the flanks. The tail is blackish. The female's underparts are browner than those of the male. The song is a series of double-notes repeated for about a minute.

The bird inhabits the undergrowth of humid forest between 700 and 1250 metres above sea-level on the Andean slope in El Oro Province, Guayas Province and Cañar Province and undoubtedly in the intervening Azuay Province. Its population is believed to be small and declining. It is threatened by the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat and is classified as an endangered species by the IUCN. Part of its range lies within the protected Buenaventura Reserve.

Wikipedia contributors, El Oro tapaculo; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:05:38.578385+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Scytalopus robbinsi Krabbe & Schulenberg, 1997

Name authority

Krabbe & Schulenberg, 1997

Common name

El Oro Tapaculo

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Rhinocryptidae

Genus

Scytalopus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderPasseriformes
10. familyRhinocryptidae Wetmore, 1930
11. genusScytalopus Gould, 1837
12. speciesScytalopus robbinsi Krabbe & Schulenberg, 1997

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Scytalopus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 58 records assigned to Rhinocryptidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Krabbe, Niels, and Thomas S. Schulenberg. (1997). Species Limits and Natural History of Scytalopus Tapaculos (Rhinocryptidae), with Descriptions of the Ecuadorian Taxa, Including Three New Species. Ornithological Mongraphs, Vol. 48. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4W5TK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.