Sharp-billed Treehunter (Heliobletus contaminatus) [XC337380]
by Rodrigo Dela Rosa from Itatiaia National Park - Agulhas Negras road, Brazil (song)
Sharp-billed Treehunter (Heliobletus contaminatus) [XC334785]
by Jerome Fischer from Parque do Zizo, Sao Paulo State, Brazil (song)
Subspecies
Species originally named as Heliobletus superciliosus, then as Anabates contaminatus, but that a nomennudum. Genus sometimes merged into Xenops. The only minor differences between the two in plumage characters, but major differences in vocalizations suggest that they are not closely related. Although both are often placed at end of traditional linear sequences, evidently because of the unusual bill and branch-foraging adaptations, it seems more likely that they were independently derived from various lineages elsewhere within Furnariidae. For example, they are reasonably similar in plumage pattern to other acrobatically foraging genera such as Premnornis, Siptornis, Anabacerthia, Syndactyla and Cichlocolaptes. Nominate subspecies intergrades with camargoi in northern Sío Paulo.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
contaminatus Berlepsch, 1885 - South-eastern Brazil (southern Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo south to northern Sío Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).
camargoi Cardoso da Silva & Stotz, 1992 - South-eastern Brazil (Sío Paulo south to Rio Grande do Sul), eastern Paraguay (Canendiyú, Alto Paraná) and north-eastern Argentina (Misiones).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet