South-eastern Amazonian Brazil, south of Amazon, from R Tapajós and northern bank of R Teles Pires east to northern Maranhío (including Marajó I); purported record from Ceará (north-eastern Brazil) involved a misidentified subadult Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Spix's Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus) [XC830841]
by Jarrod Swackhamer from Trilha Mata da Lagoa - Caraj\u00e1s, Parauapebas-PA, Par\u00e1, Brazil (call, song)
Spix's Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus spixii) [XC656968]
by Felipe Arantes from Trilha Mata da Lagoa - Caraj\u00e1s, Parauapebas-PA, Par\u00e1, Brazil (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Forms a superspecies with Elegant Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus elegans), the two regarded as conspecific by some authors but treated as separate species in most accounts. Recent analyses based on genetic and morphological data support recognition of two species, a monotypic Spix's Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus spixii) and a polytypic Elegant Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus elegans). Subspecies juruanus and insignis, regarded by most authors as subspecies of Spix's Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus spixii), and by some as full species, here recognized as subspecies of Elegant Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus elegans).