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 ovenbirds (Furnariidae). They superficially resemble the Old World treecreepers, but they are only distantly related and the similarities are due to convergent evolution. The subfamily contains 60 species in 16 genera.

Woodcreepers range from 14 to 35 cm in length. Generally brownish birds, the true woodcreepers maintain an upright vertical posture, supported by their specialized stiff tails. the tail can support most of the body weight and birds that lose their tail find climbing difficult. Woodcreepers climb by flexing their legs and hopping up the trunk. The feet of the woodcreepers are also modified for climbing. The front toes are strongly clawed and toe IV is as long as toe III to increase the ability of the bird to grasp around branches. Others suggested placing Xenops in its own family Xenopidae.

Evolutionary relationships among woodcreeper species are now fairly well known thanks to the use of DNA sequence data. and that the Greater scythebill is not closely related to other scythebills in the genus Campylorhamphus but to Drymornis. Moving Lepidocolaptes fuscus to Xiphorhynchus restores monophyly of Lepidocolaptes.

Additionally, the species-level taxonomy of several groups requires further study. Examples of "species" where vocal and morphological variations suggests that more than one species-level taxon could be involved are the curve-billed scythebill and the white-chinned, olivaceous, strong-billed and straight-billed woodcreepers. The genus Xiphorhynchus also requires much more research in this regard.<!--Derryberry et al 2011 have a similar phylogeny apart from the position of Glyphorhynchus-->

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! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| Sittasomini – "intermediate" woodcreepers

  • Woodcreeper videos on the Internet Bird Collection