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
White-barred piculet with several other species of piculet where their ranges overlap; these include the varzea ("P. varzeae") along the Amazon River, the ochre-collared ("P. temminckii") in southeastern Brazil, the ocellated ("P. dorbignyanus") in Bolivia, and the white-wedged piculet ("P. albosquamatus"), also in Bolivia. The white-barred piculet is between long. The sexes differ in that the male has red streaks or a solid red patch on the fore-crown, while the female lacks this. The rest of the crown is black, speckled with white. The upper parts of the body are tan or olive-brown, faintly barred with white, and the main flight feathers