Varzea piculet Snethlage who collected birds in Brazil for two decades. The specific name refers to ""várzea"", the Brazilian name for the seasonally flooded forested area close to the Amazon River. There are no subspecies. This bird occasionally hybridises with the white-barred piculet "(Picumnus cirratus)". The varzea piculet is a small species, some in length. The male differs from the female in having variable amounts of red on the fore and mid-crown; this red patch is the result of the crown feathers having broad red tips, and the rest of the crown in males and the whole crown in females is black
Varzea piculet is unlikely to be confused with any other piculet because it is the only species in its range with dark underparts. The varzea piculet is endemic to Brazil in tropical South America where it has a rather limited range. It lives along the Amazon River in a wildlife corridor, in the forest called "várzea forest", a freshwater swamp forest. It ranges from the confluence of the Amazon River with the Rio Negro in a , variable-width corridor downstream for about to the confluence of the Trombetas River from the north. The confluence of the Tapajós River joins here from the