NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-eared Hemispingus
Sphenopsis melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The black-eared hemispingus (Sphenopsis melanotis) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
It is found in humid highland forest in the Andes of western Venezuela, through to western Bolivia. It includes several distinctive subspecies, and two of these are sometimes considered as separate species: the western hemispingus (S. ochraceus) of the west Andean slope in southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, and the Piura hemispingus (S. piurae) of the west Andean slope in southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru.
Wikipedia contributors, Black-eared hemispingus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:57:01.230964+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sphenopsis melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855)
- Name authority
- (P. L. Sclater, 1855)
- Common name
- Black-eared Hemispingus
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Sphenopsis
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyThraupidae
- genusSphenopsis P. L. Sclater, 1862
- speciesSphenopsis melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sphenopsis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Oleaginous HemispingusSphenopsis frontalis (Tschudi, 1844) | ThraupidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western HemispingusSphenopsis ochracea (Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884) | ThraupidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Hemispingus melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855) (P. L. Sclater, 1855) | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1189820 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:9GBHH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.