Brown Treecreeper - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Meiffren Laugier de Chartrouse described the Brown Treecreeper in 1824, and it still bears its original name today. It is one of six species of treecreeper found in Australia, and is most closely related to the Rufous Treecreeper (Climacteris rufus) of Western Australia and the Black-tailed Treecreeper (C. melanurus). All three occupy similar savannah and open woodland habitat, and have a sexually dimorphic marking on the upper breast or throat (black in the male, reddish in the female). They are thought to have been separated by breaks in suitable habitat in the past and hence diverged genetically.

Three subspecies have been described – subspecies picumnus is broadly distributed from the Grampians, Victoria, through central New South Wales to the Bunya Mountains, Queensland. The subspecies can be found in coastal catchments and drier areas on and west of the Great Divide, intergrading with subspecies victoriae, which is found on the Great Dividing Range from south-east Queensland to the Grampians, Victoria. Subspecies melanotus occurs from Cape York Peninsula south to near Cooktown, Queensland. Known as the Black Treecreeper, it has distinctive sooty brown plumage and is slightly smaller than the southern subspecies.

Woodpecker is a colloquial name, from its habit of spiralling up treetrunks.