Wedge-billed Woodcreeper Glyphorynchus spirurus is the smallest dendrocolaptid in Brazil. It occurs from Mexico to Bolivia, including Amazonian Brazil and the Atlantic Forest (Sick 1997). Thirteen subspecies are recognised, of which eight occur in Brazil (Piacentini et al. 2015). G. s. cuneatus is endemic to the east coast of Brazil, in the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo.

On 20 March 2016, a G. spirurus (Fig. 1) was trapped in a mist-net at Fazenda Rio Fundo (11°08′07″S, 37°18′43″W), Itaporanga D'Ajuda municipality, Sergipe, Brazil. This private reserve encompasses fragments of forest, with a total area of c.800 ha, within a matrix of eucalypt and bamboo plantations, and pasture. Vegetation is typical deciduous Atlantic Forest of coastal restinga habitats in Sergipe, growing on sandy soils with a continuous canopy of 5–10 m in height (Beltrão-Mendes et al. 2011).

Our record of G. spirurus represents an extension of the species' range in eastern Brazil (BirdLife International 2017) by c.195 km north (Fig. 2), based on the published literature. However, two previously unpublished specimens for Sergipe are held at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP 83411–412). These were collected by A. Urben-Filho & F. C. Straube at Fazenda Sabão, Indiaroba municipality (11°31′02″S, 37°34′28″W), on 2 April 2006.

Figure 1.

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper Glyphorynchus spirurus cuneatus, municipality of Itaporanga D'Ajuda, Sergipe, Brazil, March 2016 (Saulo Silvestre)

Figure 2.

Available localities for Wedge-billed Woodcreeper Glyphorynchus spirurus cuneatus in eastern Brazil, including the new record (star) presented here. The range polygon follows BirdLife International (2017).

The range extension reported here indicates that G. s. cuneatus may occur throughout the coastal Atlantic Forest between northern Espírito Santo and Sergipe, and that the northern and southern limits of its range may coincide with the rios São Francisco and Doce, respectively (Fig. 2). These rivers play a prominent role in the zoogeography of Atlantic Forest vertebrates, e.g. White-shouldered Pyriglena leucoptera and Fringe-backed Fire-eyes P. atra (Sick 1997) or the primates Coimbra-Filho's Titi Callicebus coimbrai and Coastal Black-handed (Southern Bahian) Titi C. melanochir (Ferrari et al. 2013).

In south-western Amazonia, the range of Glyphorynchus s. inornatus is delimited by the rios Aripuanã and Jiparaná (Fernandes et al. 2013). However, further research is necessary to define the northernmost limit of the range of G. s. cuneatus, including the zoogeographic role of the São Francisco River, given the extensive deforestation that has impacted this region (Marini & Garcia 2005, Olmos 2005, Silveira & Straube 2008,, Hilário et al. 2017).