Clytoctantes

Clytoctantes is a South American genus of passerine birds in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. They are medium sized, and males are grey or black and females are mainly rufous. The stubby, hefty bill has a distinctly upcurved lower mandible and a straight culmen (a large version of the bills of the recurvebills), which possibly is a modification for opening bamboo stems in their search for insects.

It comprises two species: the Recurve-billed Bushbird (Clytoctantes alixii) and the Rondônia Bushbird (Clytoctantes atrogularis). Both species inhabit dense, lowland and foothill forests, C. alixii in the northern Andes and C. atrogularis in the Brazilian Amazon.

The two species were feared to be extinct or nearly so, until both were rediscovered in 2004. Monitoring was subsequently conducted between 2014 and 2017, confirming that they remained. They are facing the threat of habitat destruction and enhanced conservation efforts are essential to ensure their long-term survival.