Stiles's Tapaculo

Open encyclopedia reference

Stiles's tapaculo (Scytalopus stilesi) is a member of the tapaculos, a group of Neotropical birds. It was described as new to science in 2005.

It has been found at 21 sites in montane forest between 1,420 and 2,130 m altitude in the northern Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes; although having a restricted range, within this limited area it is a common understorey bird. Initially, it seemed as if the species would classify as near threatened (Cuervo et al. 2005), but it turned out to be more plentiful and thus is classified as species of least concern in the 2007 IUCN Red List.

The species was originally observed in the 1990s, but when Niels Krabbe examined recordings of their songs, his suspicions arose that they were a new species - Stiles's tapaculo's song is considerably faster and lower-pitched than that of the closely related Ecuadorian tapaculo S. robbinsi (Cuervo et al. 2005).

The species was named in honour of Frank Gary Stiles, an ornithologist who played a prominent role in research into Neotropical birds in the 1980s and 1990s.

Wikipedia contributors, Stiles's tapaculo; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:36:33.557771+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Scytalopus stilesi Cuervo, Cadena, Krabbe & Renjifo, 2005

Name authority

Cuervo, Cadena, Krabbe & Renjifo, 2005

Common name

Stiles's 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 stilesi Cuervo, Cadena, Krabbe & Renjifo, 2005

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. Cuervo, Andrés M., Carlos Daniel Cadena, Niels Krabbe , Luis Miguel Renjifo. (2005). Scytalopus stilesi, A New Species of Tapaculo (Rhinocryptidae) From the Cordillera Central of Colombia. The Auk, Vol. 122, No. 2. 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:4W5TS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.