Azara’s no. 243 Trepador de pico corto is a Lesser Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus fuscus

Abstract

The identity of Azara's no. 243 ‘Trepador pico corto' has never convincingly been elucidated, and the only previously proposed identification is demonstrably incorrect. Azara provided a brief but diagnostic description in which he mentioned clear differences from his no. 242 ‘Trepador común’ (= Narrow-billed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes angustirostris). It is possible to confirm the identity of his no. 243 as Lesser Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus fuscus (Vieillot, 1818). To my knowledge no scientific names were ever proposed on the basis of this description.