520 [Auk, Vol. 119 Notes The Auk 119(2):520–523, 2002 Dendroplex (Xiphorhynchus) necopinus Zimmer 1934 (Dendrocolaptidae) is a junior synonym of Dendrornis kienerii (Xiphorhynchus picus kienerii) Des Murs 1855 ALEXANDRE ALEIXO 1,2,3 AND BRET M. WHITNEY 2 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA; and 2 Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-3216, USA ABSTRACT.—John T. Zimmer described Xiphorhyn- chus necopinus (Zimmer’s Woodcreeper) as a sibling species of the more widespread Xiphorhynchus picus (Straight-billed Woodcreeper). Despite his initial suspicion that a preexisting name (kienerii) could be applied to the new species he described, Zimmer dis- carded that possibility without directly examining the type of X. p. kienerii housed at the Museum Na- tional D’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. We stud- ied plumage and measured wing chord and tail lengths of the type specimen of X. p. kienerii, com- paring it with series of specimens of X. necopinus and X. picus. We show that X. necopinus and the type of X. p. kienerii are morphologically and morphometri- cally indistinguishable, and thus necopinus is syn- onymized with kienerii, the name that has priority. Because Zimmer mistakenly applied the name kie- nerii to a western Amazonian population of X. picus, most specimens in museums identified as X. p. kie- nerii after Zimmer’s review (Zimmer 1934) are likely to refer to X. p. peruvianus. RESUMEN.—John T. Zimmer describio ´a Xiphorhyn- chus necopinus como una especie hermana de la ma ´s ampliamente distribuida Xiphorhynchus picus. A pe- sar de su sospecha inicial que un nombre preexisten- te (kienerii) podrı ´a aplicarse a la nueva especie por e ´l descripta, Zimmer descarto ´ esta posibilidad sin exa- minar directamente el tipo de X. p. kienerii deposi- tado en el Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle en Parı ´s, Francia. Estudiamos el plumaje y medimos la longitud de la cuerda alar y de la cola del espe ´cimen tipo de X. p. kienerii, compara ´ndolo con una serie de especı ´menes de X. necopinus y X. picus. Aquı ´ mostra- mos que X. necopinus y el tipo de X. p. kienerii son morfolo ´gica y morfome ´tricamente indistinguibles. Por lo tanto, necopinus es sinonimizado con kienerii, el nombre que tiene prioridad. Debido a que Zimmer aplico ´ por error el nombre kienerii a una poblacio ´n del oeste amazo ´nico de X. picus, la mayorı ´a de los especı ´menes en museos identificados como X. p. kie- nerii luego de la revisio ´n de Zimmer (1934) se refie- ren probablemente a X. p. peruvianus. In 1934, John T. Zimmer described a new species of Dendroplex (=Xiphorhynchus), family Dendroco- laptidae, based on a series of 29 specimens collected 3 E-mail: aaleixo@lsu.edu throughout the Brazilian Amazon, which were pre- pared and subsequently sold by the Ollala family to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (hereafter AMNH; Zimmer 1934). The new taxon was named Dendroplex (=Xiphorhynchus) neco- pinus (Zimmer’s Woodcreeper) and its designated type locality was ‘‘Muirapinima’’ on the right bank of the lower Rio Negro, Amazonas State, Brazil (Zim- mer 1934). Zimmer’s Woodcreeper remained un- known in life until 1993, when B.M.W. identified it in syntopy with Xiphorhynchus picus (Straight-billed Woodcreeper) and Xiphorhynchus obsoletus (Striped Woodcreeper) on the lower Solimo ˜es and Negro riv- ers in Brazilian Amazonia. Subsequent work re- vealed that X. necopinus was found predominantly in tall seasonally flooded ‘‘va ´rzea’’ forest, and that its distribution was restricted to the banks and islands of the Amazon river and some of its major tributar- ies, particularly in the central and western parts of Amazonia, including northeastern Peru (B. M. Whit- ney and A. Alexio pers. obs., M. Cohn-Haft pers. comm.). In the original description, Xiphorhynchus necopi- nus was diagnosed from the strikingly similar X. pi- cus by the following characters: (1) mantle duller and more brownish; (2) pale centers of pectoral feathers more elongate, reaching almost the tips of the webs; (3) dark margins on throat and malar feathers lateral, not terminal as in X. picus; (4) lesser upper wing-co- verts brown; (5) longer wings and tail; and (6) a more slender bill (Zimmer 1934). The Straight-billed Woodcreeper is a widespread species in the Neo- tropics, occurring in several distinct habitats such as river-edge, deciduous, secondary, mangrove, and edge of va ´rzea forests (Stotz et al. 1996). Despite the similarity in tail and wing measurements between his new species and a previously described taxon (Dendrornis Kienerii), later considered a subspecies of X. picus (X. p. kienerii), Zimmer (1934) discarded the possibility that the taxon he described referred to kie- nerii because (1) none of the 10 specimens of X. picus he examined from Ega (=Tefe ´) in western Amazo- nian Brazil, the type locality of kienerii, exhibited any of the diagnostic characters of X. necopinus; (2) the apparent similarity in measurements was probably due to a preparation artifact, the type of kienerii be- ing a mounted specimen; and (3) the type of kienerii had rufous shoulders and pectoral feathers tipped Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/auk/article-abstract/119/2/520/5561994 by guest on 02 June 2020