Narrow-billed Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes angustirostris) [XC789706]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Monte Alegre, Comunidade Tinguizal Kalunga, Goi\u00e1s, Brazil (call)
Narrow-billed Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes angustirostris) [XC427528]
by Franco Vushurovich from Hotel Fazenda Sete Cidades, Brasileira-PI, Piau\u00ed, Brazil (canto)
Subspecies
Proposed placement as sister to White-striped Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes leucogaster) seems biogeographically unlikely. Subspecies form two groups, apparently intergrading across broad zone of contact extending from eastern Bolivia to south-eastern Brazil: members of "angustirostris group" (which also includes hellmayri, certhiolus and praedatus) are browner above and more heavily streaked below, but those of "bivittatus group" (with griseiceps, coronatus and bahiae) are more rufescent above and largely unstreaked below.
Proposed subspecies dabbenei (south-western Paraguay, northern Argentina) and chacoensis (north-eastern Argentina) synonymized with praedatus, which also intergrades widely with nominate; described subspecies immaculatus (northern Bolivia) synonymized with bivittatus. Description of griseiceps possibly based on individual variant with extremely pale plumage; known only from type locality, but description matched in all respects by birds in a series from northern Amazonian Brazil (Amapá).
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
griseiceps Mees, 1974 - Definitely known only from type locality in southern Surinam (Sipaliwini Savanna), but populations on northern side of lower Amazon R in northern Brazil (eastern Pará, Amapá) appear to represent this subspecies.
coronatus (Lesson, R, 1830) - North-eastern Brazil from southern and eastern Maranhío east to northern Piauí, south to Tocantins and north-western Bahia.
bahiae (Hellmayr, 1903) - North-eastern Brazil in interior Bahia (east of R Sío Francisco); populations north of R Sío Francisco from Ceará east to Paraíba, south to eastern Piauí and Alagoas probably represent this subspecies.
bivittatus (Lichtenstein, MHK, 1822) - Central and south-eastern Brazil (Mato Grosso east to Goiás and Minas Gerais, and south to Rio de Janeiro and Sío Paulo. Also in Pará along southern bank of lower Amazon R from R Tapajós east to Marajó I) and northern and eastern Bolivia (La Paz, Beni, Santa Cruz).
hellmayri Naumburg, 1925 - Andean foothills of central Bolivia (Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Tarija).
certhiolus (Todd, 1913) - Lowlands at eastern base of Andes in central and southern Bolivia (south-western Santa Cruz south to Tarija), western Paraguay (Alto Chaco) and north-western Argentina (south-eastern Jujuy, northern Salta).
angustirostris (Vieillot, 1818) - South-western Brazil (western Mato Grosso do Sul) and eastern Paraguay in drainages of R Paraguay and R Paraná; intergrades with praedatus in northern and north-eastern Argentina (western Salta, Formosa, western Chaco, northern Corrientes, northern Santa Fe).
praedatus (Cherrie, 1916) - Northern and central Argentina (southern Salta, Santiago del Estero, southern Santa Fe, southern Corrientes and south-western Misiones, south to Mendoza, northern La Pampa and north-eastern and south-western Buenos Aires), western and central Uruguay and extreme southern Brazil (western and south-western Rio Grande do Sul).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet