Silvery-cheeked Antshrike

The silvery-cheeked antshrike (Sakesphoroides cristatus) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to Brazil. == Taxonomy and systematics == The silvery-cheeked antshrike was originally described as Turdus cristatus. and was later transferred to genus Sakesphorus. Its transfer to the new genus Sakesphoroides was proposed in 2010 based on the species' distinctive morphology. It uniqueness was confirmed by a genetic study published in 2021. Based on that study, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC), the International Ornithological Congress (IOC), and the Clements taxonomy moved the silvery-cheeked antshrike to Sakesphoroides. However, as of January 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) retained it in Sakesphorus. The silvery-cheeked antshrike is the only member of genus Sakesphoroides. It was long treated as monotypic but a study published in 2024 proposed splitting it into two sub species. The IOC and Clements soon implemented the split. They now recognize the "southern" nominate subspecies S. c. critatus (Wied, 1831) and the "northern" S. c. niedeguidonae (Cerqueira, Gonçalves, Quaresma, Silva, Pichorim & Aleixo, 2024). As of March 2025 the SACC has not recognized the split but is urgently seeking…