Buffy Tuftedcheek (Pseudocolaptes lawrencii) - HBW 8, p. 327

Taxonomy: Pseudocolaptes lawrencii Ridgway, 1878, La Palma and Navarro, 3500-5000 feet [c. 1070-1520 m], Costa Rica.
Genus has no obvious close relatives; placement near Berlepschia based on bill shape and other morphological characters associated with climbing and probing, all possibly due to convergence; somewhat similar in general facial pattern and distinctive malar tufts to some Cinclodes, traditionally assumed to be distantly related. Forms a superspecies with P. boissonneautii and sometimes treated, with some justification, as conspecific; in plumage colour, present species and race auritus of that species are in many ways more similar to each other than either is to nominate race of latter; in addition, verbal descriptions of voice equivocal, and formal comparison of sonagrams may provide data for re-evaluation of taxonomy. Race johnsoni considered a separate species by some authors, but evidence for this marginal, based mainly on its occurrence at lower elevation (a characteristic of Andean birds of W Colombia), minor plumage features, and near-parapatry with nominate in elevational distribution. Proposed race panamensis, described from single specimen from W Panama, considered not diagnosable, as characters (more olivaceous back with paler streaks, browner flanks) within range of variation of nominate. Two subspecies recognized.