The Urrao antpitta (Grallaria urraoensis), also known as Fenwick's antpitta (Grallaria fenwickorum), is a highly threatened species of bird found in the understory of cloud forest in the Andean highlands of Colombia. The first published description used the scientific name Grallaria fenwickorum (and English name Fenwick's antpitta); shortly afterward, a second description using the name Grallaria urraoensis was published. The editors of the latter recognized that the name likely was a junior synonym, but others have questioned the validity of the first description, and various authorities, including the International Ornithological Congress, have adopted G. urraoensis. Antioquia antpitta has been suggested as an English-language name compromise.
Discovery The new species was discovered during banding sessions in September 2007 and February and March 2008 when Diego Carantón, then working as a researcher for a Colombian NGO, Fundación ProAves de Colombia, caught an unfamiliar Grallaria antpitta. It was also sound-recorded in late 2008. The population was thought to be a new species and was added to the Colombian checklist as "Grallaria sp." in 2009. Since 2008 many ornithologists and birders have seen, photographed, recorded and studied the new bird at the reserve, where a family party is seen daily at a feeding station alongside chestnut-naped antpittas. Luis Felipe Barrera and Avery Bartels, the authors of the description under the name Grallaria fenwickorum, based it on holotypic material from a living bird, but also included information based on two specimens that Carantón had collected earlier. Their holotype comprises 14 feathers, taken from the wing, tail and body of a living bird which was banded, photographed, sound-recorded and measured in the field before being released, on 11 January 2010. In the description it was stated that the holotype material had been deposited, as tissue collection No. 699, at the José Celestino Mutis Natural History Museum of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Pamplona. This was denied by people associated with the museum, which has neither a tissue collection nor anything deposited under No. 699. An associate of the museum did receive an envelope with the feathers, but he was not informed about its great significance and it was not moved to the collection until after the description of the new species. The museum does not have an ornithological curator or the means to preserve such an important sample. Consequently, they have forwarded the material to the relevant authorities to allow them to take charge in its depositing and preservation. Besides this holotype, two specimens were previously collected by Carantón. He has stated that the second was not deliberately collected, but died in the mist net where it was caught, which is not an exceptional occurrence. According to Fundación ProAves these specimens were collected without their knowledge and without the necessary permit from the local government, and consequently neither was used as a holotype in their description, but one could possibly be designated as a neotype if the legal status was resolved. In 2011, the collector and ProAves (the collector was employed by them when the specimens were collected) were fined for breach of reporting requirements. ProAves maintain that the collection itself was irregular, but there was no such finding by the local government. One of the specimens was used as a holotype in the second description of the species, by Diego Carantón-Ayala and Katherine Certuche-Cubillos, where they coined the name Grallaria urraoensis.
Taxonomy and etymology Within its genus, the bird is a typical member of the plain-coloured group due to its relatively small wings, fairly uniform upperparts and underparts without strong markings, relatively high tail / wing ratio, a convolute inner edge of the tarsus, and 12 rectrices. It is evidently most closely related to the brown-banded antpitta, G. milleri, because of similarities in voice and measurements and its generally plain plumage. Barrera and Bartels and other ornithologists have suggested that it is most closely related to the probably extinct subspecies G. m. gilesi, but Carantón and Certuche say that it may resemble G. m. milleri more closely than it does gilesi. They suggest that the present species, the brown-banded antpitta, and the Cundinamarca antpitta form a clade. The genus name Grallaria is derived from the Latin word grallae, meaning "stilts", referring to the bird's relatively long legs. The specific name fenwickorum recognises George Fenwick, President of the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), and his family, who assisted Fundación ProAves (ABC's partner organization in Colombia) in the purchase of land, now the Colibrí del Sol Bird Reserve. Based on present knowledge, the antpitta is restricted to the reserve and its immediate surroundings. ProAves's suggested English name also honours Fenwick, while the Spanish common name Tororoi de Urrao is given after the municipality of Urrao, where the bird is found. Tororoi is a general Spanish name used for most antpitta species. The creation of a type specimen without killing an individual follows the policy of the ABC.
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