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.
Taxonomy and systematics
The strong-billed woodcreeper's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) assigns it these 23 subspecies:
X. p. omiltemensis Nelson, 1903
X. p. sclateri Ridgway, 1890
X. p. emigrans Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1859
X. p. costaricensis Ridgway, 1889
X. p. panamensis Griscom, 1927
X. p. rostratus Todd, 1917
X. p. sanctaemartae Hellmayr, 1925
X. p. virgatus Ridgway, 1890
X. p. macarenae Blake, 1959
X. p. promeropirhynchus (Lesson, 1840)
X. p. procerus Cabanis & Heine, 1860
X. p. tenebrosus Zimmer, JT & Phelps, WH, 1948
X. p. neblinae Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1955
X. p. crassirostris Taczanowski & Berlepsch, 1885
X. p. compressirostris Taczanowski, 1882
X. p. phaeopygus Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1896
X. p. solivagus Bond, J, 1950
X. p. lineatocephalus (Gray, GR, 1847)
X. p. orenocensis Berlepsch & Hartert, EJO, 1902
X. p. berlepschi Snethlage, E, 1908
X. p. paraensis Pinto, 1945
X. p. obsoletus Todd, 1917
X. p. carajaensis Cardoso da Silva, Novaes & Oren, 2002
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....
