The Indian spotted creeper (Salpornis spilonota) is a small passerine bird, which is a member of the subfamily Salpornithinae which is placed along with the treecreepers in the family Certhiidae.

This small bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark, deeply fissured trees where it picks out insect prey using its curved bill.

It is found in patchily distributed localities mainly in the dry scrub and open deciduous forests of northern and central peninsular India.

The Indian spotted creeper has a thin pointed down-curved bill, a bit longer than the head, that it uses to extricate insects from bark, but it lacks the stiff tail feathers which treecreepers use to prop themselves on the vertical surface of tree trunks.

[8] Scholars of nomenclature emended the ending spilonota which is suited for the feminine gender Certhia to the masculine form spilonotus to match the placement in the genus Salpornis.

The Indian species is nowhere common but is found in locations scattered around parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat,[12] Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, central India (Bandhavgarh,[13] Jabalpur,[14] Bastar district[15][16]) Orissa,[17][18] northern Andhra Pradesh (Adilabad,[19] Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary[20]).

[4] The species is found mainly in habitats having trees with deeply fissured bark including those of Acacia, Diospyros, Tectona and mango.

The nest is a cup made of roots and stalks placed at the junction of a horizontal branch and the vertical trunk, often near a knot or other outgrowth that makes it very difficult to spot.

The usual clutch consists of two eggs, which are greenish or gray, spotted darker brown and blotched pale.