The Spotted Nothura was identified in Fazenda Canaã based on faint, but unambiguous, voice recordings.
There are several recognized subspecies. According to some authors (e.g. Cabot 1992, Blake 1977), the local race is N. maculosa cearae NAUMBURG 1932, with distribution restricted to northeastern Brazil. However, it seems that until 1977, when Blake's book was published, this subspecies was known only from the type specimen (Blake 1977, p. 68). I don't know whether any additional evidence for the validity of this taxon has appeared since 1977.