Tityras, Becards, and Allies

White-tailed Tityra

Tityra leucura

DDData Deficient Endemic to Brazil
Family
Tityras, Becards, and Allies (Tityridae)
Order
Passeriformes

Overview

The white-tailed tityra (Tityra leucura) is a medium-sized passerine bird about 19 cm long with pied plumage, mostly white or very pale grey, but with a black crown and wings.
It is found in a small area of the Amazon rainforest near the Madeira River in the far west of Brazil close to the Peruvian border. It was first discovered in 1829 but the one specimen collected then, an immature male, sat forgotten in the Natural History Museum, Vienna until 1868, when August von Pelzeln concluded it represented an undescribed species. For many decades after that, no further individuals were seen; its close similarity to the widespread black-crowned tityra resulted in its being widely considered an aberrant specimen of that.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Rio Madeira-Rio Tapajós interfluvium, south-central Brazil.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Continents

Countries

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.