Strong-billed Woodcreeper

About the Strong-billed Woodcreeper

The strong-billed woodcreeper (Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus) is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

The strong-billed woodcreeper's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) assigns it these 23 subspecies: The Clements taxonomy and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World add two others, X. p. ignotus (Ridgway, 1890) and X. p. fortis (Heine, 1860) and list the subspecies in a somewhat different linear sequence than the IOC. X. p. fortis is known from a single specimen that was collected at an unknown location. The IOC apparently includes X. p. ignotus within X. p. promeropirhynchus.

The five Middle American subspecies (X. p. omiltemensis through X. p. panamensis in the above list) have been treated as a separate species. Similarly, the orenocensis group (X. p. solivagus and X. p. orenocensis through X. p. carajaensis in the list) has also been treated as a separate species. "Clearly, a thorough... Wikipedia →