Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) [XC706042]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from Alcoba\u00e7a, Bahia, Brazil (call)
Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) [XC706070]
by Richard E. Webster from PE-035 (near Itapissuma), Itapissuma, Pernambuco, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
Holotype of Dendrornis [= Xiphorhynchus] Kienerii, subsequently recognized as a subspecies of Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) by most authors, recently found to match more recently described "Dendroplex necopinus", which is supported as specifically distinct from Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) by vocal, ecological and molecular data. Assessment of geographic variation is complicated by marked individual variation, at least in some populations. The sister-species of Zimmer's Woodcreeper (Dendroplex kienerii).
Subspecies fall into two groups, "picirostris group" (also including choicus, extimus, dugandi, paraguanae, longirostris, phalara) in Panama and northern and north-western South America, with remaining subspecies constituting "picus group" of Amazonia and eastern South America. These groups treated as separate species by some authors, but not by others because of apparent hybrids from lower R Orinoco region of Venezuela. Further work is needed. Subspecies similar within each group.
Purported subspecies bahiae (north-eastern Brazil) and rufescens (north-central Brazil) described on basis of average differences from nominate, but individual variation so marked that neither is considered diagnosable. Described subspecies borreroi from southern Colombia (eastern base of Andes in Caquetá) apparently not distinguishable from peruvianus, which itself is possibly indistinguishable from saturatior. Subspecies choicus poorly differentiated from picirostris.
The following 13 subspecies are recognised:
extimus Griscom, 1927 - Central and eastern Panama (Pacific slope from eastern Azuero Peninsula east to Darién, also Caribbean slope locally in Canal Zone) and north-western Colombia (valleys of lower R Atrato and upper R Sinú, in Córdoba).
dugandi Wetmore & Phelps, 1946 - North-western Colombian lowlands from southern Santa Marta region east to Perijá Mts, and southern along Pacific coast to northern Chocó and in Magdalena Valley to northern Huila.
picirostris Lafresnaye, 1847 - Coastal lowlands of northern Colombia (north-western Santa Marta region east to Guajira Peninsula) and extreme north-western Venezuela (east to mouth of L Maracaibo).
choicus Wetmore & Phelps, 1946 - Coastal north-central Venezuela (eastern Falcón east to Miranda).
longirostris Richmond, 1896 - Margarita I, off northern Venezuela.
phalarus (Wetmore, 1939) - Northern Venezuela (llanos of interior from Portugesa, western Apure and north-western Bolívar east to eastern Anzoátegui, and along north-eastern coast east to Sucre).
saturatior Hellmayr, 1925 - Eastern base of eastern Andes in Colombia (Norte de Santander southern probably to Meta) and western Venezuela (central and southern Maracaibo basin in southern Zulia, north-western Táchira, western Mérida).
duidae Zimmer, JT, 1934 - Upper R Orinoco and upper R Negro in eastern Colombia (eastern Vichada), southern Venezuela (north-western Bolívar, northern Amazonas) and adjacent north-western Brazil.
picus (Gmelin, 1788) - Southern Venezuela (southern Anzoátegui, southern Monagas, eastern Bolívar), the Guianas and northern and eastern Brazil (lower R Negro east to Amapá and, south of Amazon, from R Madeira east to Ceará and Pernambuco, south to Goiás and, on Atlantic coast, to northern Rio de Janeiro); unclear whether birds in south-western Brazil (Pantanal) or those in north-western Brazil (northern bank of R Solimíµes) and adjacent south-eastern Colombia and north-eastern Ecuador refer to nominate subspecies or peruvianus.
peruvianus Zimmer, JT, 1934 - South-western Amazonia, south of Amazon, from eastern Peru and western Amazonian Brazil (east to R Juruá, possibly to R Madeira) south to northern and eastern Bolivia (south to Cochabamba and Santa Cruz).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet