Niels Krabbe

• PhD
• Research Associate at University of Copenhagen

We applied an integrative taxonomic framework to evaluate the systematics of the Neotropical Black-and-white Becard (Pachyramphus albogriseus Sclater 1857). Combining phylogenomic (ultraconserved elements), morphological, and vocalization data, we confirmed that this species is polyphyletic; some individuals form a clade sister to P. polychopterus...

La cordillera del Kutukú está ubicada al sureste de Ecuador y se encuentra parcialmente aislada de la cordillera de los Andes. Realizamos cinco expediciones a este macizo, donde obtuvimos de manera directa información referente a la riqueza de aves. Además, con el fin de generar un listado más completo, realizamos una recopilación de registros publ...

Describo una especie nueva de búho que habita el bosque húmedo de la zona premontana de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Una comparación genética indicó que la nueva especie pertenece al género Megascops, y que no tiene pariente cercano. Proveo una comparación descriptiva de las vocalizaciones de todas las especies de Megascops y de otros...

Realizamos una exploración ornitológica en el Páramo de Frontino, el páramo más grande de los Andes Occidentales de Colombia y rara vez visitado por los ornitólogos. Presentamos aquí los primeros registros para la cordillera de Geranoaetus melanoleucus, Hapalopsittaca amazonina, Lurocalis rufiventris, Grallaria alleni, Myornis senilis, Notiochelido...

After being known only from the type specimen, an immature male, for over 50 years, the Dusky Starfrontlet Coeligena orina was rediscovered in 2004 at the type locality and another site 70 km to the south in the Western Andes of Colombia. Four specimens were collected, permitting the first descriptions of the adult male and female plumages. From th...

The presence of two undescribed cisticola warblers in the marshes of the Kilombero floodplain in central Tanzania has been known since the 1980s and these putative new species have been illustrated in field guides on African birds, although with no formal name. Here we name both species, based on two museum specimens collected in 1961 and recently...

We present two new distributional country records based on previously misidentified sound recordings: Ocellated Crake, Micropygia schomburgkii (Schomburgk, 1848), in Zamora Chinchipe (Ecuador) and Rufous-faced Crake, Laterallus xenopterus Conover, 1934, in Madre de Dios (Peru). We show supporting spectrograms of sound recordings and provide tools t...

We studied the phylogeny, biogeography, and diversification of suboscine passerines in the genus Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae), a widespread, species-rich, and taxonomically challenging group of Neotropical birds. We analyzed nuclear (exons, regions flanking ultraconserved elements) and mitochondrial (ND2) DNA sequence data for a taxonomically and ge...

Tropical mountains feature marked species turnover along elevational gradients and across complex topography, resulting in great concentrations of avian biodiversity. In these landscapes, particularly among morphologically conserved and difficult to observe avian groups, species limits still require clarification. One such lineage is Scytalopus tap...

We studied the phylogeny, biogeography and diversification of suboscine birds in the genus Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae), a widespread, speciose, and taxonomically challenging group of Neotropical birds. We analyzed nuclear (exons, regions flanking ultraconserved elements) and mitochondrial (ND2) DNA sequence data for a taxonomically and geographical...

We describe a new species of the genus Oreotrochilus from the southwestern Andes of Ecuador. The new species is most similar in adult male plumage to O. stolzmanni and O. chimborazo. However, male and female show unique combinations of plumage characters that are likely to act as social signals. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial DNA indi...