Proposal (17) to South American Classification Committee

Change name of Xiphorhynchus necopinus to X. kienerii

Effect on South American CL: change scientific name only of Xiphorhynchus necopinus (Zimmer's Woodcreeper) to Xiphorhynchus kienerii.

Background and rationale: see Aleixo and Whitney (Auk 119: 520-523, 2002). A one-sentence synopsis is that examination of the type specimen of kienerii shows that it is identical to X. necopinus and therefore must be the name of that taxon by rules of priority; necopinus becomes a junior synonym.

Recommendation: Having followed this project for years, I strongly endorse the recommendation of Aleixo and Whitney to correct the nomenclature of this species.

Van Remsen, 21 May 2002

________________________________________________________________________________________

From Stiles:

"In Zimmer's description of necopinus, he stated that he hadn't seen kienerii, so no real surprise (I have been trying to straighten out the Eastern (Colombian) races of X. picus and came across exactly the same problem - at least Zimmer was good enough to state clearly what he had and hadn't examined personally!"