''Dendroplex'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of birds in the woodcreeper

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Dendrocolaptinae The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ...

. It was long merged into ''

Xiphorhynchus ''Xiphorhynchus'' is a genus of birds in the woodcreeper subfamily (Dendrocolaptinae) that are found in Middle and South America. Taxonomy The genus ''Xiphorhynchus'' was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalist William Swainson. The name c ...

'', but its distinctness has now been established.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Dendroplex'' was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalist

William Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''dendron'' meaning "tree" with ''plēssō'' meaning "to strike". Swainson did not specify a

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

but this was fixed in 2007 as the

straight-billed woodcreeper The straight-billed woodcreeper (''Dendroplex picus'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Panama, Trinidad, and in every mainland South American country except Chile, Arg ...

which had first been described in 1788 by

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

with the binomial name ''Oriolus picus''. The genus contains two species:

References

Bird genera Taxa named by William Swainson {{Furnariidae-stub