Los Chalchaleros is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 musical ensemble consisting today of four men. The group was established in 1948 in the northern province of Salta

Salta

Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of 464,678 inhabitants as of the , making it Argentina's eighth largest city.-Overview:...

. It is named after a local song-bird, the chalchalero.

The original group was formed by Victor José Zambrano ("Cocho"), Carlos Franco Sosa, Aldo Saravia, and Juan Carlos Saravia. They gave their first public concert on June 16, 1948. The group is currently formed by Juan Carlos Saravia, Eduardo Román ("Polo"), Ricardo Francisco Figueroa ("Pancho"), and Facundo Saravia. Other components during the group's history include José Antonio Saravia Toledo, Ricardo Federico Dávalos ("Dicky"), and Ernesto Cabeza.

Los Chalchaleros have published close to 50 records, typically focusing in traditional Argentinian folk music: zamba

Zamba

Zamba is the national dance of Argentina. It is a style of Argentine music and Argentine folk dance.Zamba is very different from its homophone, the samba - musically, rhythmically, temperamentally. It is European compared to the Samba, in the steps of the dance and in its costume...

, cueca

Cueca

Cueca is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially selected on September 18, 1979.- Origins :...

, chacarera

Chacarera

The Chacarera is a dance of Argentine origin. It is a genre of folk music that, for many Argentines, serves as a rural counterpart to the cosmopolitan imagery of the Tango...

, gato

Gato

Gato is a Spanish and Portuguese word for cat.Gato may also refer to:-People:*Gato Barbieri, a Latin jazz musician*Gastón Gaudio, an Argentinian tennis player nicknamed El Gato*Chris Leath, techno producer and dj...

, and chamamé

Chamamé

Chamamé is a folk music genre from the Argentine Northeast, Mesopotamia and in the south of Brazil. Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso do Sul....

.

A rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 species, Salinoctomys loschalchalerosorum (Los Chalchaleros viscacha rat), from the Octodontidae

Octodontidae

The Octodontidae are a family of rodents, restricted to south-western South America. Thirteen species of octodontid are recognised, arranged in nine genera. The best known species is the Degu, Octodon degus....

 family, and discovered at La Rioja Province

La Rioja Province (Argentina)

La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.-History:...

, Argentina, was named after the group. The researcher in charge of the naming (Michael A. Mares from the University of Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma

The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...

at Norma), states that he named the new species after Los Chalchaleros because his crews had sung their songs during thirty years of field research across Argentina.