[4] Later it was treated as a subspecies of the rusty-backed spinetail (Cranioleuca vulpina) but starting in the late twentieth century it was separated again as a species in its own right.

[5] Later phylogenetic work showed that it is not closely related to the rusty-backed spinetail but rather is a sister species of the russet-mantled softtail (C.

[7][8][9] Parker's spinetail is found along the upper Amazon River and its major tributaries, from eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and far northern Bolivia into western Brazil as far east as the Rio Negro.

[7][8][9] Parker's spinetail is not a migrant, but the extent of its local movements in response to the flooding of river islands during the rainy season is not known.

It gleans its prey from bark, dead leaf clusters, and trapped debris while searching along trunks and limbs.

[10] Its calls include "a sharp, fast chut-chut" given singly or tripled[8] and "a longer, descending chatter, tchew-tew'tu'tu.

Given that this species occupies disturbed habitats, it may even benefit, locally, from human activities, such as a low level of clearing for subsistence agriculture."