Genus PREMNOPLEX Cherrie.
- Premnoplex[1] Cherrie, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiv, no. 855, Sept. 4, 1891, 339. (Type, Margarornis brunnescens Lawrence.)
Small scansorial Furnariidæ (length about 135 mm.) with second phalanx of outer toe partly joined to middle toe, tarsus shorter than middle toe with claw, wing less than three and a half times as long as tarsus, exposed culmen as long as middle toe without claw, and inner webs of remiges without any buff or ochraceous area.
Bill nearly as long as head, slender, its width at loral antiæ greater than its depth at same point and equal to decidedly less than half the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla; culmen distinctly ridged, slightly and gradually curved from near base, the tip of maxilla very slightly decurved, not uncinate; tomia nearly straight for terminal half or more but strongly deflected basally, without trace of subterminal notch; gonys nearly straight, slightly prominent basally, slightly ascending terminally. Nostril exposed, posteriorly in contact with loral feathering, very narrow (a horizontal slit), overhung by a broad, convex, membraneous operculum. Rictal bristles absent, and feathers of chin, etc., without terminal setæ. Wing rather short, excessively rounded, the longest primaries exceeding secondaries by much less than length of exposed culmen; sixth, seventh, and eighth primaries longest, the tenth (outermost) about three-fifths as long as the longest, the ninth much longer than secondaries. Tail about as long as wing, graduated for more than half its length, the rectrices (12) abruptly acuminate, with slender but barbed points conspicuously protruded (but less developed on lateral than on middle rectrices). Tarsus longer than whole culmen, one- third as long as wing, distinctly scutellate; middle toe, with claw, longer than tarsus; outer toe, without claw, reaching to about middle of subterminal phalanx of middle toe, the inner toe distinctly shorter; hallux as long as outer toe, much stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe wholly united to outer toe, for more than half to inner toe; claws rather large and strongly curved, very acute, that of the hallux much shorter than the digit.
Coloration. — Above brown, the head darker and duller; throat buff or ochraceous; rest of under parts brown with broad guttate streaks of buff or ochraceous-buff; no buff or ochraceous on inner webs of remiges.
Range. — Costa Rica to Peru and Bolivia. (Two species?[2])
