Appearance

The White-throated Earthcreeper is a typical Upucerthia with a long tail and a long, decurved bill. Despite the name, the white throat is not conspicuous feature in the field; the White-throated Earthcreeper overall is dull brown in color, but has a relatively conspicuous, pale superciliary and rufuscent remiges and wing coverts. See Similar Species.

The White-throated Earthcreeper is very similar to the more common and widespread Plain-breasted Earthcreeper Upucerthia jelskii, with which there is extensive geographic overlap; indeed, the two species are so similar that the White-throated Earthcreeper was overlooked completely for many years, and was not described as a species until as late as 1932 (Hellmayr 1932).

Compared to the Plain-breasted, the White-throated has a stouter, somewhat shorter bill. The wing coverts of White-throated also are more rufescent, and outer webs of the secondaries are entirely rufous (these feathers are narrowly edged sooty in Plain-breasted). Otherwise White-throated differs from Plain-breasted in having a stronger superciliary, and in having more contrast between the tawny color of the flanks and the paler brown belly. There also is elevational segregation; the elevational distribution of White-throated Earthcreeper is lower than that of Plain-breasted, although there is narrow elevational overlap between the two.

Crown, back and rump brown; crown somewhat darker and grayer than the back. Supericiliary buffy buff, relatively broad and well defined. Tail long, dull rufous or rufescent brown. Wing coverts dull rufescent brown. Remiges primarily dark rufous, including the outer webs. Throat buffy white, faintly scaled dusky. Breast pale tawny buff, breast faintly scaled dusky. Belly pale tawny buff, flanks tawny brown; center of lower belly white.

Not described.

Iris brown.

Maxilla black; mandible brownish gray or black.

Tarsus black, dark brown, or dark gray.

Source: specimen data, Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology; Remsen (2003).

Total length 19.5 cm (Ridgely and Tudor 1995); 19.5-22 cm (Jaramillo 2003); 18-19 cm (Remsen 2003); 19.5 cm (Schulenberg et al. 2007).

Mass: x = 39.6 g, range 36.5-42.5 g, sd ± 2.4 g (n = 5) (specimen data American Museum of Natural History, Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology).