{{Short description|Species of bird (Machetornis rixosa)}} {{Speciesbox |name = Cattle tyrant |image = Machetornis rixosa-standing.jpg |image_caption = |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 13 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2017 |title=''Machetornis rixosa'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T22700321A118647319 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22700321A118647319.en |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> |genus = Machetornis |parent_authority = G.R. Gray, 1841 |species = rixosa |authority = (Vieillot, 1819) |synonyms = ''Machetornis rixosus'' (Vieillot, 1819)<ref name="ITIS">{{cite web|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=560912|title=''Machetornis rixosus''| author= Alan P. Peterson, M.D.|date=|publisher=Integrated Taxonomic Information System|access-date=22 July 2011}}</ref> |range_map = Machetornis rixosa map.svg }}

The '''cattle tyrant''' ('''''Machetornis rixosa''''') is a species of bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. In Brazil, it is called '''suiriri-cavaleiro'''.<ref name="Sazima">{{cite journal|last1=Sazima|first1=I|last2=Sazima|first2=C|title=Brazilian cleaner birds: update and brief reappraisal|journal=Biota Neotropica|date=2010|volume=10|issue=1|pages=327–331|url=http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bn/v10n1/a28v10n1.pdf|doi=10.1590/S1676-06032010000100028|doi-access=free}}</ref> It is the only member of the genus '''''Machetornis'''''. The relationships of this species and genus to other genera in the tyrant flycatchers are uncertain. It resembles ''Tyrannus'' flycatchers, but this may be the result of convergence.

==Subspecies and distribution== left|thumb|''M. r. flavigularis'', Panama The genus name was given to the species by George Robert Gray and is derived from the Ancient Greek {{Transliteration|grc|makhētēs}} for fighter and {{Transliteration|grc|ornis}} for bird, a reference to its pugnacious behaviour and habit of dispossessing other species of their nests. The specific name comes from the Latin {{Lang|la|rixosus}} meaning quarrelsome, again referring to the behaviour and temperament of the species.<ref name="HBW">Mobley, J. (2017). Cattle Tyrant (''Machetornis rixosa''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/57454 on 4 March 2017).</ref>

The species has a disjunct distribution, with three subspecies accepted:<ref name="IOC">{{cite web | title=Tyrant flycatchers – IOC World Bird List | website=IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2 | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flycatchers/ | access-date=2025-03-05}}</ref><ref name="HBW"/> *''M.&nbsp;r. rixosa'' <small>(Vieillot, 1819)</small>, the nominate subspecies, in eastern South America from northern Argentina and Bolivia to the north-eastern tip of Brazil. *''M.&nbsp;r. flavigularis'' <small>Todd, 1912</small>, in southernmost Central America and northwestern South America from Panama to western Colombia and western Venezuela. *''M.&nbsp;r. obscurodorsalis'' <small>W. H. Phelps & W. H. Phelps Jr, 1948</small>, in north-central South America from eastern Ecuador through central Colombia to eastern Venezuela. The two northern subspecies, partly but not fully separated by the Andes with some overlap in Venezuela, are not very distinct from each other and may be better merged under the older name ''M.&nbsp;r. flavigularis''.<ref name="HBW"/>

The species inhabits drier open and semi-open habitats, and avoids forested and wooded areas. It can be found in savannah, pastureland, parkland, agricultural land and even gardens.<ref name="HBW" /> Due to deforestation, the species has recently colonised areas where it was previously absent, such as northeast Ecuador.

==Description== The cattle tyrant is a highly terrestrial tyrant flycatcher, {{convert|19.5|–|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighing {{convert|29|-|40|g|abbr=on}}. The plumage of the nominate subspecies is mostly olive-brown above and yellow below, with a grey head with a thin dark eyestripe and a paler, whitish throat. The thin bill and legs are black. The two other subspecies differ from the nominate in having the head less grey, more like the olive-brown of the back, and a yellower throat.<ref name="HBW" />

==Behaviour== Cattle tyrants feed on insects, mostly from the ground. It may follow cattle or other large animals for some distance, catching flushed prey, or even hitch rides on these animals, and then snatching flushed prey with a quick sally-flight. It may sometimes hawk for insects from a high perch.<ref name="HBW" /> The species is sometimes reported to have a cleaning symbiosis with the large mammals it lives with. It takes ticks off mammals only occasionally, but it will sometimes hunt horseflies attempting to land on capybaras.<ref name="Sazima"/>

Cattle tyrants build bulky nests or steal the nests of rufous-fronted thornbirds. Three to four eggs are laid and incubated for 14 days. The chicks fledge after 15 days.<ref name="HBW" />

<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px"> Capibara 1.jpg|Cleaning symbiosis foraging on a capybara Cattle tyrant (Machetornis rixosa) on Capybara.jpg|Perched on capybara Machetornis rixosa (30579151962).jpg </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} * {{inaturalist taxon|17289}}

{{Passeriformes|T.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from1=Q656000|from2=Q15878984}}

cattle tyrant Category:Birds of South America cattle tyrant Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot