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Information about Woodpecker

Woodpeckers
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Hairy Woodpecker

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Piciformes
Family:Picidae
Subfamily:Picinae
Genera


Melanerpes
Sphyrapicus
Xiphidiopicus
Dendropicos
Dendrocopos
Picoides
Veniliornis
Campethera
Geocolaptes
Dinopium
Meiglyptes
Hemicircus
Micropternus
Picus
Mulleripicus
Dryocopus
Celeus
Piculus
Colaptes
Campephilus
Chrysocolaptes
Reinwardtipicus
Blythipicus
Gecinulus
Sapheopipo


Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species (including the famous ivory-billed).

Woodpeckers gained their English name because of the habit of some species of tapping and pecking noisily on tree trunks with their beaks. This is both a means of communication to signal possession of territory to their rivals, and a method of locating and accessing insect larvae found under the bark or in long winding tunnels in the tree.

Physiology and behavior

Some woodpeckers and wrynecks in the order Piciformes have zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. These feet, though adapted for clinging to a vertical surface, can be used for grasping or perching. Several species have only three toes. The woodpecker's long tongue, in many cases as long as the woodpecker itself, can be darted forward to capture insects. The tongue is not attached to the woodpecker's head in the same way as it is in most birds, but instead it curls back up around its skull, which allows it to be so long.

The woodpecker first locates a by tapping on the trunk. Once a tunnel is found, the woodpecker chisels out wood until it makes an opening into the tunnel. Then it worms its tongue into the tunnel to try to locate the grub. The tongue of the woodpecker is long and ends in a barb. With its tongue the woodpecker skewers the grub and draws it out of the trunk.

Woodpeckers also use their beaks to create larger holes for their nests which are 15–45 cm (6–18 inches) below the opening. These nests are lined only with wood chips and hold 2–8 white eggs laid by the females. Because the nests are out of sight, they are not visible to predators and eggs do not need to be camouflaged. Cavities created by woodpeckers are also reused as nests by other birds, such as grackles, starlings, some ducks and owls, and mammals, such as tree squirrels.

Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small subarachnoid space; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock; and its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals'. (Schwab, 2002)

Systematics

The systematics of woodpeckers is quite convoluted. Based on an assumption of unrealistically low convergence in details of plumage and behavior, 5 subfamilies were distinguished. However, it has turned out that similar plumage patterns and modes of life are not reliable to determine higher phylogenetic relationships in woodpeckers, and thus only 3 subfamilies should be accepted.

For example, the genera Dryocopus (Eurasia and Americas) and Campephilus (Americas) of large woodpeckers were believed to form a distinct group. However, they are quite unrelated and instead close to a Southeast Asian genus, Mulleripicus and Chrysocolaptes, respectively. In addition, the genus allocation of many species, e.g. the Rufous Woodpecker, has turned out to be in error, and some taxa with unclear relationships could be placed into the phylogeny (Benz et al., 2006; Moore et al., 2006).

Unassigned fossil forms

  • Genus Palaeonerpes (Ogalalla Early Pliocene of Hitchcock County, USA) - possibly dendropicine
  • Genus Pliopicus (Early Pliocene of Kansas, USA) - possibly dendropicine
  • cf. Colaptes DMNH 1262 (Early Pliocene of Ainsworth, USA) - malarpicine?

Species in taxonomic order

Tribe Dendropicini
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Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons
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Hoffmann's Woodpecker, Melanerpes hoffmannii
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Male (left) and female American Three-toed Woodpecker, Picoides dorsalis. Plate by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
Tribe Malarpicini
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Black-rumped Flameback, Dinopium benghalense
Tribe Picini Tribe Megapicini
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Female Western Ghats Greater Flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus socialis

External links

P. villosus

Binomial name
Picoides villosus
(Linnaeus, 1766)

The Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) is a medium-sized woodpecker.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Piciformes
Meyer & Wolf, 1810

Families
Galbulidae
Bucconidae
Capitonidae
Ramphastidae
Picidae
Indicatoridae
For prehistoric taxa, see text

Six families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes
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Picidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

About 30, see text

The avian family Picidae includes the woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions.
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Sphyrapicus
Baird, 1858

Species

Sphyrapicus varius
Sphyrapicus nuchalis
Sphyrapicus ruber
Sphyrapicus thyroideus

The Sapsuckers form the genus Sphyrapicus
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X. percussus

Binomial name
Xiphidiopicus percussus
(Temminck, 1826)

The Cuban Green Woodpecker (Xiphidiopicus percussus) is a species of bird in the Picidae family.
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Dendropicos
Malherbe, 1849

Species

see text

Dendropicos is a genus of bird in the Picidae family.

It contains the following species:
  • Little Grey Woodpecker (Dendropicos elachus)

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Dendrocopos
Koch, 1816

Species

21, see text

Dendrocopos is a widepread genus of woodpeckers from Asia and Europe and Northern Africa. They range from the Philippines to the British Isles.
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Picoides
Lacépède, 1799

Species

See text.

Picoides is a genus of woodpeckers (family Picidae) found primarily in North America.
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Veniliornis
Bonaparte, 1854

Species

see text

Veniliornis is a genus of bird in the Picidae family.

It contains the following species:
  • Scarlet-backed Woodpecker (Veniliornis callonotus)

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Geocolaptes
Swainson, 1832

Species: G. olivaceus

Binomial name
Geocolaptes olivaceus
(Gmelin, 1788)

The Ground Woodpecker,
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flamebacks are large woodpeckers which are resident breeders in tropical southern Asia. They derive their English names from their golden or crimson backs.

In fact, the two genera (Dinopium and Chrysocolaptes) are not closely related at all.
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Meiglyptes
Swainson, 1837

Species

see text

Meiglyptes is a genus of bird in the Picidae family.

It contains the following species:
  • Buff-rumped Woodpecker (Meiglyptes tristis)

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Hemicircus
Swainson, 1837

Species

2, see text

Hemicircus is a genus of birds in the Picidae family.

It contains the following species:
  • Grey-and-buff Woodpecker (Hemicircus concretus)

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Micropternus

Species: M. brachyurus

Binomial name
Micropternus brachyurus
(Vieillot, 1818)

The Rufous Woodpecker
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Picus
Linnaeus, 1758

Species

see list

Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa.

These are large woodpeckers, typically with green upperparts.
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Dryocopus
Boie, 1826

Species

See text.

Dryocopus is a genus of large powerful woodpeckers, typically 35-45 cm in length.
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Celeus
Boie, 1831

Species

see text

Celeus is a genus of woodpeckers found in tropical and subtropical forests in Central and South America.
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Piculus
Spix, 1824

Species

see text

Piculus is a genus of bird in the Picidae family.

It contains the following species:
  • Rufous-winged Woodpecker (Piculus simplex)
  • Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker (

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Colaptes
Swainson, 1825

Species

See text.

A genus of bird encompassing many members of the woodpecker family. Colaptes comes from the Greek verb colapt, to peck.
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Campephilus
Gray, 1840

Species

See text.

Campephilus is a genus of large American woodpeckers in the family Picidae.

This genus was created by George Robert Gray, who suggested taking Campephilus principalis
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flamebacks are large woodpeckers which are resident breeders in tropical southern Asia. They derive their English names from their golden or crimson backs.

In fact, the two genera (Dinopium and Chrysocolaptes) are not closely related at all.
..... Click the link for more information.
Reinwardtipicus
Bonaparte, 1854

Species: R. validus

Binomial name
Reinwardtipicus validus
(Temminck, 1825)

The
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