This Secondary Area relates to the main part of the range of Brasília Tapaculo Scytalopus novacapitalis, the interior of south-central Brazil in the states of Goiás, the Federal District and Minas Gerais (see map, p. 294). The species has been recorded only locally within this large area, particular sites being Formosa in Goiás, around Brasília, Serra Negra (on the upper Dourados river) and the headwaters of the São Francisco, both in Minas Gerais. There are also a couple of records from Serra do Cipó and Caraça in the hills and tablelands of central Brazil (EBA 073). The habitat of the tapaculo is swampy gallery forest, and birds occasionally colonize disturbed areas near streams with dense secondary growth of bracken Pteridium aquilinum (Negret and Cavalcanti 1985). The species is classified as Vulnerable, being under threat from habitat loss around Brasília, but swampy gallery forest, though at considerable risk from fire, has in general escaped clearance, this having primarily affected the adjacent cerrado. S. novacapitalis occurs in a number of protected areas, including the Serra da Canastra National Park (720 km²) on the upper São Francisco river, in which the widespread Brazilian Merganser Mergus octosetaceus (Critical) also occurs, and around Brasília in the Brasília National Park (280 km²), and nearby in two other smaller nature reserves.

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Interior southern Brazil. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/331 on 22/12/2024.