The red-crowned ant tanager (Habia rubica) is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. The genus Habia was long placed with the tanagers (Thraupidae), but it is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant-tanagers is misleading, but no other common name has gained usage. Taxonomy The red-crowned ant tanager was formally described in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot. He placed it in the genus Saltator (which he mispelled as Staltator) and coined the binomial name Saltator rubicus. He specified the locality as Paraguay. The specific epithet is from Medieval Latin rubicus meaning "reddish". The red-crowned ant tanager is now placed in the genus Habia that was introduced in 1840 by Edward Blyth. There are 17 recognised subspecies: H. r. holobrunnea Griscom, 1930 – east Mexico H. r. rosea (Nelson, 1898) – southwest Mexico H. r. affinis (Nelson, 1897) – south Oaxaca (south Mexico) H. r. nelsoni (Ridgway, 1902) – Yucatán Peninsula (southeast Mexico) H. r. rubicoides (Lafresnaye, 1844) – central south, south Mexico to Honduras and El Salvador H. r. vinacea (Lawrence, 1867) – west Costa Rica and Panama H. r. alfaroana (Ridgway, 1905) – northwest Costa Rica H. r. perijana Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1957 – north Colombia and northwest Venezuela H. r. coccinea (Todd, 1919) – central north Colombia and west Venezuela H. r. crissalis Parkes, 1969 – northeast Venezuela H. r. rubra (Vieillot, 1819) – Trinidad H. r. mesopotamia Parkes, 1969 – east Venezuela H. r. rhodinolaema (Salvin & Godman, 1883) – east Colombia, east Ecuador, northeast Peru and northwest Brazil H. r. peruviana (Taczanowski, 1884) – east Peru, west Brazil and north Bolivia H. r. hesterna Griscom & Greenway, 1937 – central Brazil H. r. bahiae Hellmayr, 1936 – east Brazil H. r. rubica (Vieillot, 1817) – east Paraguay, southeast Brazil and northeast Argentina Description The red-crowned ant tanagers is long and weighs (male) or (female). The adult male of the nominate subspecies is dull reddish brown with a brighter red throat and breast. The black-bordered scarlet crown stripe is raised when the bird is excited. The female is yellowish brown with a yellow throat and yellow-buff crown stripe. It is a shy but noisy bird. Its call is a rattle followed by a musical pee-pee-pee. Distribution and habitat This bird is a resident breeder from