Dendrocolaptes

Abstract: A pair of Planalto Woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptes platyrostris) fed young in a nest cavity 6 m up in a wooded botanic garden of an old eucalyptus grove near Sao Paulo, Brazil, during October 1982. The pair often visited together at first, one (likely male) raising its head feathers as noted in other species of the genus. Feedings were less frequent at midday. Songs of the southeastern moist forest D. p. platyrostris were strikingly different from inland dry forest D. p. intermedius, despite intermediate specimens where the two rather distinctly colored forms come together. There are several poorly studied forms in interior dry forests, which need much more conservation effort.

Abstract: The true diversity and interspecific limits in the Neotropical endemic avian genus Dendrocolaptes (Furnariidae) remain a highly controversial subject, with previous genus-wide assessments, based mostly on morphological characters, producing poorly resolved phylogenies. The lack of well-resolved, robust, and taxonomically densely sampled phylogenies for Dendrocolaptes prevents reliable inferences on the genus’ actual species diversity and evolutionary history. Here, we analyzed 2,741 base pairs of mitochondrial and nuclear genes from 43 specimens belonging to all species and the majority of subspecies described for Dendrocolaptes to evaluate species limits and reconstruct its diversification through time. Our phylogenies recovered a monophyletic Dendrocolaptes, with two main highly supported internal clades corresponding to the D. certhia and D. picumnus species complexes. Also, our analyses supported the monophyly of most Dendrocolaptes species recognized today, except D. picumnus, which was consistently recovered as paraphyletic with respect to D. hoffmannsi. A coalescent-based test supported a total of 15 different lineages in Dendrocolaptes and indicated that the number of currently accepted species within the genus may be greatly underestimated. Particularly relevant, when combined with previous analyses based on plumage characters, comparative high levels of genetic differentiation and coalescent analyses support the recognition of D. picumnus transfasciatus as a full species that is already under threat. Ancestral area reconstructions suggest that diversification in Dendrocolaptes was centered in lowland Amazonia, with several independent dispersal events leading to differentiation into different adjacent dry and high elevation forest types throughout the Neotropics, mainly during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH

Abstract: Many authors have criticized the use of subspecies, but most of this criticism has been directed at the inconsistent treatment of subspecies rather than the inutility of diagnosable populations To assess the validity of a taxon, one must include in the analysis those characters used in the original diagnosis and remember that different character sets may lack geographic concordance We examined morphometric variation using 3,027 specimens representing all five species and 30 subspecies in the woodcreeper genus Dendrocolaptes (Dendrocolaptinae) Most subspecies in the genus differ in plumage patterns and coloration, but a few taxa were described using characters of size and structure We sought to assess quantitatively, on the basis of the D-statistic (Patten and Unitt 2002), those subspecies described using mensural characters, to quantify morphological variation, and to examine the influence of ecological correlates in the genus Males average slightly larger than females but have a less massiv

Abstract: Two new species belonging to the genus Rafapicobia Skoracki, 2011 (Syringophilidae: Picobiinae) collected from birdsof the family Dendrocolaptidae are described: 1) Rafapicobia dendrocolaptesi sp. nov. from Dendrocolaptes platyrostris Spix (type host) in Paraguay and from D. picumnus Lichtenstein in Argentina; 2) Rafapicobia lepidocolaptesi sp. nov. from Lepidocolaptes affinis (Lafresnaye) (type host) in Ecuador and Venezuela and from L. souleyetii (Des Murs) in Colombia. Syringophilid mites are recorded from woodcreepers for the first time.