''Lepidocolaptes'' 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 ovenbird family Furnariidae. These are relatively small

woodcreeper 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 th ...

s (subfamily

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 ...

) with fairly long, thin and slightly decurved bills.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Lepidocolaptes'' was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...

. The 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 ...

''lepis'' meaning "scale" with ''kolaptēs'' meaning "pecker". The

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 ...

was designated as the scaled woodcreeper by

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

in 1855.

Species

The genus contains 11 species: The

lesser woodcreeper The lesser woodcreeper (''Xiphorhynchus fuscus'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Taxonomy and systematics The lesser woodcreeper was ...

was formerly included in this genus, but is now in ''

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 ...

''.

References

Bird genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach {{Furnariidae-stub