[2][7] The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy treats it as the scaled piculet subspecies P. squamulatus obsoletus.

Its most distinctive mark is pale pure yellow underparts with sparse black dots on the lower breast and usually on the belly and undertail coverts.

The crown is black with narrow scarlet streaks on the forepart and conspicuous white dots on the rear part, or throughout in some females.

[9] The black-dotted piculet is locally common in areas with bushes or trees (possibly including mangroves), near water or waterlogged, in the Venezuelan coastal lowlands between southeastern Sucre and southern Delta Amacuro.

[9] The IUCN has assessed the black-dotted piculet as being of Least Concern, though it has a limited range, and its population size is unknown and believed to be decreasing.