The true diversity and interspecific limits in the Neotropical endemic avian genus
Dendrocolaptes (Furnariidae) remain a highly controversial subject, with previous genus‐wide assessments, based mostly on morphological characters, producing poorly resolved phylogenies. The lack of well‐resolved, robust, and taxonomically densely sampled phylogenies for
Dendrocolaptes prevents reliable inferences on the genus’ actual species diversity and evolutionary history. Here, we analyzed 2,741 base pairs of mitochondrial and nuclear genes from 43 specimens belonging to all species and the majority of subspecies described for
Dendrocolaptes to evaluate species limits and reconstruct its diversification through time. Our phylogenies recovered a monophyletic
Dendrocolaptes, with two main highly supported internal clades corresponding to the
D. certhia and
D. picumnus species complexes. Also, our analyses supported the monophyly of most
Dendrocolaptes species recognized today, except
D. picumnus, which was consistently recovered as paraphyletic with respect to
D. hoffmannsi. A coalescent‐based test supported a total of 15 different lineages in
Dendrocolaptes and indicated that the number of currently accepted species within the genus may be greatly underestimated. Particularly relevant, when combined with previous analyses based on plumage characters, comparative high levels of genetic differentiation and coalescent analyses support the recognition of
D. picumnus transfasciatus as a full species that is already under threat. Ancestral area reconstructions suggest that diversification in
Dendrocolaptes was centered in lowland Amazonia, with several independent dispersal events leading to differentiation into different adjacent dry and high elevation forest types throughout the Neotropics, mainly during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.
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