New species of flycatcher (cf Dutch Birding 23: 61, 2001)

In June 1992, a flycatcher was observed and tape-recorded at an elevation of 1000 m in south-eastern Ecuador which could not be assigned to any known species. Later that year, a pair was collected. After comparison of the vocalizations and the study of skins, Paul Coopmans and Niels Krabbe were convinced that they had found a new species. Additional specimens were collected in 1996 in north-eastern Ecuador and a specimen from Peru was identified in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. The new species has now been formally described as Foothill Elaenia Myiopagis olallai (Coopmans, P & Krabbe, N 2000. A new species of flycatcher (Tyrannidae: Myiopagis) from eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru. Wilson Bull 112: 305-312). M olallai closely resembles Grey Elaenia M caniceps and Forest Elaenia M gaimardii, but it is well differentiated vocally.
Foothill Elaenia is now known to occur in the foothills of the Andes (890-1500 m): in two national parks in Ecuador (three sites on the slope of the Sumaco volcano in north-eastern Ecuador, and one location near Zamora, south-eastern Ecuador; type locality) and from one location near Luisiana, Peru. Presumably, it also occurs locally in the region between these areas. However, forests at elevations where the species occurs are disappearing at an alarming rate.
André J van Loon