Black-and-white tanager
species of bird

The black-and-white tanager (Conothraupis speculigera) is a bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found primarily in Ecuador and Peru but in migration and as a vagrant has appeared in several other countries.
Taxonomy and systematics
The black-and-white tanager was formally described in 1855 with the binomial Schistochlamys speculigera. In 1880 Philip Sclater erected its present genus Conothraupis with speculigera as the type species. It now shares the genus with the cone-billed tanager (C. mesoleuca).
The black-and-white tanager is monotypic.
Description
The black-and-white tanager is 16 to 16.5 cm (6.3 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 23 to 28 g (0.81 to 0.99 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a black head, throat, neck, upper breast, and back. Their lower back, rump, uppertail coverts, and tail are gray.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3182648. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1855 and 1880.
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This entry incorporates text from “Black-and-white tanager” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.