White-winged Becard

The white-winged becard (Pachyramphus polychopterus) is a species of bird in the family Tityridae, the tityras, becards, and allies. It is found in every Central American country except El Salvador, on Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Chile. == Taxonomy and systematics == The white-winged becard was originally described in 1818 as Platyrhynchos polychopterus. It was eventually reassigned to genus Pachyramphus that the English zoologist George Robert Gray erected in 1839. The genus Pachyramphus has variously been assigned to the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae and the cotinga family Cotingidae. Several early twenty-first century studies confirmed the placement of Pachyramphus in Tityridae and taxonomic systems made the reassignment. In 1998 the American Ornithological Society was unsure where to place the genus and listed its members as incertae sedis but in 2011 moved them to Tityridae. The white-winged becard has these eight subspecies: P. p. similis Cherrie, 1891 P. p. cinereiventris Sclater, PL, 1862 P. p. dorsalis Sclater, PL, 1862 P. p. tristis (Kaup, 1852) P. p. tenebrosus Zimmer, JT, 1936 P. p. nigriventris Sclater, PL, 1857 P. p. polychopterus (Vieillot, 1818) P. p. spixii (Swainson, 1838) Some of the subspecies were originally described as species, and…