Ivory-billed Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster) [XC384190]
by Manuel Grosselet from Sendero Potos\u00ed., Nicaragua (song)
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster) [XC572787]
by id from Cihuatl\u00e1n, Jalisco, Mexico (call)
Subspecies
Sister-species relationship with Black-striped Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus lachrymosus) has been suggested on basis of molecular data. Assessment of geographic variation is complicated by marked individual variation in coloration, overall size, and pattern of streaking (width and shape) both above and below. Subspecies mentalis poorly differentiated from nominate; saltuarius, ascensor and ultimus weakly differentiated from eburneirostris. Described form striatigularis, known from unique type specimen from southern Tamaulipas (Mexico), sometimes treated as a full species, but recently shown to represent an aberrant individual of present species.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
tardus Bangs & Peters, JL, 1928 - North-western Mexico (south-eastern Sonora, northern Sinaloa); intergrading with subspecies mentalis in western Durango.
mentalis (Baird, SF, 1867) - Coastal western Mexico (central and southern Sinaloa south to Michoacán); intergrades with tardus in western Durango and with nominate in western Guerrero.
saltuarius Wetmore, 1942 - North-eastern Mexico (southern Tamaulipas and south-eastern San Luis Potosí south to northern Veracruz).
ascensor Wetmore & Parkes, 1962 - Caribbean slope of southern Mexico from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca east to Tabasco, possibly also northern Chiapas east to adjacent Guatemala.
yucatanensis Ridgway, 1909 - Yucatán Peninsula; populations at base of peninsula south to northern Belize, possibly to north-central Guatemala (Petén), show signs of intergradation with eburneirostris.
eburneirostris (Des Murs, 1847) - Caribbean Slope of Central America from central Guatemala and Belize east to Honduras, also locally in northern Costa Rica; Pacific slope from southern Mexico (extreme south-eastern Oaxaca, southern Chiapas) south to north-western Costa Rica.
ultimus Bangs & Griscom, 1932 - Hills of Nicoya Peninsula, in north-western Costa Rica; possibly intergrading with eburneirostris in adjacent lowlands.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet