First description of the nest and notes on parental care of Oustalet's Tyrannulet, Phylloscartes oustaleti (Passeriformes: Tyrannidae)

Abstract

A nest of Phylloscartes oustaleti (Sclater, 1887), collected in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, is described as an ovoid structure with a dome-shaped lateral entrance supported laterally by thin twigs of a shrub. Building material was slender plant fiber interwoven with strands of live moss, which was growing also on twigs around the nest, thus serving to camouflage it. Egg cup was lined by silky material, probably seed down. This nest was found on 13 December 2007 when an adult was spotted carrying food to the nest, located 2.3 m above ground on the edge of secondary forest. Only arthropods were identified in the provisioned food, including mainly insects, but also spiders. General features of this nest conform to those of the few other species of the genus whose nests are known. Available records of Oustalet's Tyrannulet nests are consistent with the previously postulated September to December breeding season for the species, although one record of a bird carrying nest material in early August suggests the breeding season may extend earlier. Detailed nest descriptions are needed from a larger number of species before intra- and interspecific variation in nesting can be adequately appreciated in evolutionary or purely taxonomic contexts in this genus.