Taxonomy
It was first described by ornithologist John Latham in 1802 as Certhia leucophaea. For many years it was classified in the genus Climacteris.
The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek kormos 'trunk of a tree', and 'batēs' from the verb 'to go' or 'to travel', and refers to its mode of walking up and down trees. Its specific name is derived from the Ancient Greek leuko- 'white' and phaios 'dun' or 'dusky', and refers to its plumage. Some guidebooks have the binomial name written as Cormobates leucophaeus, however a review in 2001 rules that the genus name was feminine, hence leucophaea is the correct specific name.
The Papuan Treecreeper (Cormobates placens) was previously considered a subspecies but is now recognized as a separate species, although molecular studies have yet to be done on the two taxa.
Read more about this topic: White-throated Treecreeper