gnateaters

The gnateaters are a bird family, Conopophagidae, consisting of twelve small suboscine passerine species in two genera, which occur in South and Central America.

==Taxonomy== The family Conopophagidae was introduced in 1877 by the English zoologist Alfred Henry Garrod. The family was formerly restricted to the gnateater genus Conopophaga, but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 found that the genus Pittasoma in the family Formicariidae was sister to Conopophaga. The association between this genus and Conopophaga is also supported by traits in their natural history, morphology, and vocalizations. The members of this family are very closely related to the antbirds and less closely to the antpittas and tapaculos. Due to their remote and dim habitat, gnateaters are a barely studied and poorly known family of birds.