The species Dendrocincla fuliginosa (family Dendrocolaptidae) provides excellent material for studying cryptic diversity among birds of the Amazon region, since several of its parapatric or allopatric populations are morphologically differentiated and formally recognized as subspecies. Despite being formally described, to date no study has critically evaluated the diagnosis of the subspecies Dendrocincla fuliginosa trumaii, which may have major implications, since it is listed as vulnerable on the list of endangered species of the Brazilian fauna. The present work is a systematic revision of the taxa (phaeochroa, atrirostris, neglecta, fuliginosa, rufoolivacea and trumai) of the polytypic species Dendrocincla fuliginosa. The following characters were analyzed: 1) total wing length; 2) total tail length; 3) right tarsus length; 4) bill length; 5) bill thickness and 6) bill width at the nostril area; 7) dorsal spot length; 8) pectoral spot length; 9) pectoral spot width. Statistical analyses were performed using the BIOESTAT and SYSTAT programs. Strong sexual dimorphism in Dendrocincla fuliginosa as a whole was verified using the t-test. The ANOVA showed that all characters have significant differences between the taxa. With the PCA it can be observed that the taxon phaeochroa presents itself more organized in a certain quadrant, differently from the other taxa, which appear more disorganized, not being possible an enlightening diagnosis between them. However, the DFA indicates a grouping tendency between the taxa fuliginosa and rufo olivácea, and the same happens between the taxa atrirostris and trumai. Therefore Dendrocincla fuliginosa trumai cannot be considered a valid taxon, and it should be synonymized with DendroCincla fuliginosa atrirostris.
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