Red-capped Manakin - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Red-capped Manakin is one of eight or nine species in the genus Pipra. (The placement of one species, the White-crowned Manakin, is disputed among taxonomists, with some including it in Pipra and others placing it in its own genus, Dixiphia.) It is closely related to, and in eastern Panama sometimes hybridizes with, the Golden-headed Manakin. The genus name Pipra comes from the scientific name given by Linnaeus to the White-crowned Manakin in 1758 — Parus pipra.

There are three recognized subspecies:

• P. m. mentalis, first described by Philip Lutley Sclater in 1857.
• P. m. ignifera, first described by Outram Bangs in 1901.
• P. m. minor, first described by Ernst Hartert in 1898.