Piculus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae that are found in Central and South America.
Piculus | |
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Adult male rufous-winged woodpecker (Piculus simplex) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Tribe: | Picini |
Genus: | Piculus Spix, 1824 |
Type species | |
Piculus macrocephalus[1] von Spix, 1824
| |
Species | |
See text |
The genus was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix in 1824.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the golden-green woodpecker (Piculus chrysochloros) by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser in 1923.[3] The generic name is a diminutive of the Latin word Picus meaning "woodpecker".[4]
The genus forms part of the woodpecker subfamily Picinae and has a sister relationship to the genus Dryocopus whose species are found in Eurasia and the Americas. The genus Piculus is a member of the tribe Picini and belongs to a clade that contains five genera: Colaptes, Piculus, Mulleripicus, Dryocopus and Celeus.[5]
The genus contains seven species:[6]
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
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Piculus simplex | Rufous-winged woodpecker | Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-throated woodpecker. | |
Piculus callopterus | Stripe-cheeked woodpecker | Panama. Formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-throated woodpecker. | |
Piculus litae | Lita woodpecker | western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador | |
Piculus leucolaemus | White-throated woodpecker | The Amazon Basin, Brazil, mainly in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia | |
Piculus flavigula | Yellow-throated woodpecker | Brazil and the entire Amazon Basin; also in the Guianas, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela | |
Piculus chrysochloros | Golden-green woodpecker | The Amazon Basin in the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname | |
Piculus aurulentus | Yellow-browed woodpecker | Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. |
Five other species, formerly placed here, are now in Colaptes.