Intraspecific differentiation in Spotted Creepers, Salpornis spilonotus (Aves: Passeriformes: Certhiidae)

Abstract

Spotted Creepers (Salpornis spilonotus) occur in Africa and India. They are scarcely distributed in openly forested areas and little is known about them. The fi ve currently accepted subspecies differ clearly from each other in morphological dimensions and vocal characters. Genetic divergence between the Indian and the single genetically investigated African subspecies is immense. Consequently, we propose to treat African and Indian populations as separate species, Salpornis salvadori and Salpornis spilonotus. This intercontinental split is corroborated by our morphometric data.