Species

Justification
This species is classified as Near Threatened as it is is likely to be undergoing a moderately rapid population reduction owing to continuing deforestation within its range.

Taxonomic source(s)
Woodcock, M. W. 2003. Systematics and confusion in the genus Parmoptila. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 123(4): 274-277.

Taxonomic note
Parmoptila rubrifrons (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into P. rubrifrons and P. jamesoni following Woodcock (2003).

Identification
Identification. Adult male, forehead and forecrown bright red, nape, neck and side of face olive brown spotted or streaked with white. Upper parts olive brown. White under chin, rest of underside chestnut brown. Adult female, dark brown above, the crown with pale feather tips and forehead rufous brown. Underside white or cream with dark brown feather tips especially on the breast. Voice. no record.

Distribution and population
Parmoptila rubrifrons, which was formerly considered conspecific with Jameson's Antpecker P. jamesoni, appears to have a rather fragmented range in West Africa, with isolated sub-populations occurring in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. There is also a single record of two individuals obtained at Misséni, southwest Mali (Fry and Keith 2004). It is uncommon in Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), in Gola Forest (Sierra Leone) (E. Klop in litt. 2007) and in a number of protected areas in Ghana (Subri River Forest Reserve, Kakum National Park, Ankasa National Park and Tano Offin Forest Reserve) (A. Augustus in litt. 2007), although it seems to be fairly common in Liberia. Its unobtrusive habits may mean that it is often overlooked, but mist-netting data indicates that it is genuinely scarce (H. Rainey in litt. 2007).

Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as scarce and relatively little known (Clement 1999).

Trend justification
The species is likely to be declining at a moderately rapid rate, owing habitat loss and degradation.

Ecology
It occurs in lowland tropical moist forest, and shows a preference for primary forest (H. Rainey in litt. 2007).

Threats
Its range is already fragmented, and ongoing logging and clearance of forest for agriculture are likely to drive population declines.

Conservation actions underway
It occurs in a number of protected areas.

Conservation actions proposed
Conduct surveys in forest at different degrees of perturbation to determine the effects of logging and habitat fragmentation on populations. Protect large areas of forest at key sites, in both strictly protected areas and community led multiple use areas.

References
Fry, C. H.; Keith, S. 2004. The birds of Africa vol. VII. Christopher Helm, London.

Further web sources of information
Hear sounds for this species from xeno-canto, the community database of shared bird sounds from around the world.

View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Mahood, S., Symes, A.

Contributors
Asamoah, A., Klop, E., Rainey, H.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Taylor, J.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Parmoptila rubrifrons. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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