Tepui vireo

{{speciesbox | image = Tepui Greenlet Smithsonian Front.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=Tepui Vireo ''Vireo sclateri'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T22705293A130388161 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22705293A130388161.en |access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref> | genus = Vireo | species = sclateri | authority = (Salvin & Godman, 1883) | synonyms = ''Hylophilus sclateri'' | range_map = Vireo sclateri map.svg }}

The '''tepui vireo''', or '''tepui greenlet''', ('''''Vireo sclateri''''') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers.<ref name=IOC15.1>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/shrikes/ |title=Vireos, shrike-babblers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 15.1 | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=March 2025 |access-date=3 March 2025 }}</ref> It is found in Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.<ref name=SACCcountries>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved September 29, 2025</ref>

==Taxonomy and systematics==

The tepui vireo was originally described in 1883 as ''Hylophilus sclateri''.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Salvin |first=Osbert |last2=Godman |first2=Frederick Du Cane | journal=Ibis | title=XXIV. Notes on Birds from British Guiana. Part II. | volume=1 | issue=2 | date= 1883 |page=205 |language=Latin, English | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16243008 |access-date=November 25, 2025 }}</ref> Based on a 2014 publication, taxonomic systems reassigned it to genus ''Vireo''. During its time in genus ''Hylophilus'' it was called the tepui greenlet.<ref>Slager, D. L., C. J. Battey, R. W. Bryson, G. Voelker, and J. Klicka (2014). "A multilocus phylogeny of a major New World avian radiation: the Vireonidae". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 80:95–104.</ref><ref name=SACClist>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2025</ref>

The tepui vireo is monotypic.<ref name=IOC15.1/>

==Description==

The tepui vireo is {{convert|12|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|10|to|12.5|g|oz|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. The sexes have almost the same plumage. Adults have a buffy forehead and lores on an otherwise gray face. Their crown and nape are gray and their upperparts olive-green. Their wings are gray with thin paler gray edges on the outer webs of the primaries and secondaries. Their tail is deep gray with paler edges on the feathers' outer webs. Their chin and throat are white, their breast yellow with greenish yellow sides, their flanks greenish yellow, their belly dull white, and their vent white or yellow-tinged white. The yellow of the breast forms a band that in males is more sharply defined than in females. Both sexes have a gray or white iris, a dark brownish maxilla, a dusky pinkish mandible, and pinkish gray to pinkish legs and feet. Juveniles have a dark iris.<ref name=TEVI-BOW>Brewer, D. (2020). Tepui Vireo (''Vireo sclateri''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tepgre1.01 retrieved November 25, 2025</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==

The tepui vireo is primarily a bird of the tepui region where southeastern Venezuela's Amazonas and Bolívar states, extreme northern Brazil, and western Guyana meet. In addition, it was discovered in 2005 on Tafelberg in central Suriname. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid and wet montane forest on the tepuis, where it ranges in elevation between {{convert|600|and|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=TEVI-BOW/><ref name=vanPerlo>{{cite book | last =van Perlo | first = Ber| title =A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =2009 | location =New York | pages =338–339 | isbn =978-0-19-530155-7 }}</ref><ref name=Hilty>{{cite book | last =Hilty | first =Steven L. | title =Birds of Venezuela | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =second | date =2003 | location =Princeton NJ | pages =679 | language =English }}</ref>

==Behavior== ===Movement===

The tepui vireo is believed to be a sedentary year-round resident.<ref name=TEVI-BOW/>

===Feeding===

The tepui vireo's diet is not known in detail but is mostly insects. It forages energetically, within the forest in the subcanopy and canopy and lower on its edges. It often hangs upside-down to take prey from leaves. It frequently joins mixed-species feeding flocks.<ref name=TEVI-BOW/><ref name=Hilty/>

===Breeding===

Nothing is known about the tepui vireo's breeding biology.<ref name=TEVI-BOW/>

{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Vireo-sclateri |species=the tepui vireo}} ===Vocalization===

The tepui vireo's song is unlike that of any other member of genus ''Vireo'', "a short, clear whistled ''suuWEEEeeuu'', rising then falling quickly, often over and over". It also makes "a nasal, downslurred scold".<ref name=Hilty/>

==Status==

The IUCN has assessed the tepui vireo as being of Least Concern. Its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.<ref name=IUCN/> It is considered common in Venezuela.<ref name=Hilty/> "Much of this species' habitat is protected by its remoteness; some areas of its range lie within national parks, although some of these are poorly protected."<ref name=TEVI-BOW/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

tepui vireo Category:Birds of the Tepuis tepui vireo tepui vireo tepui vireo Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot