Colaptes

Colaptes
Gilded flicker (Colaptes chrysoides)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Tribe:	Picini
Genus:	Colaptes Vigors, 1825
Type species
Cuculus auratus [1] Linnaeus, 1758
Species
see text
Synonyms
Chrysoptilus Nesoceleus

Colaptes is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The 14 extant species are found across the Americas.

Colaptes woodpeckers typically have a brown or green back and wings with black barring, and a beige to yellowish underside, with black spotting or barring. There are usually colorful markings on the head. Many of these birds – particularly the northern species – are more terrestrial than usual among woodpeckers.

Historically, there has been considerable uncertainty in assigning woodpecker species to genera and it is only by comparing DNA sequences that it has become possible to confidently place many of the species.

Taxonomy

The genus Colaptes was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825 with the northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) as the type species. ^[2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek κολάπτης (koláptēs), meaning "chiseller, pecker". ^[3]

The genus forms part of the woodpecker subfamily Picinae and has a sister relationship to the genus Piculus . The genus Colaptes is a member of the tribe Picini and belongs to a clade that contains five genera: Colaptes, Piculus, Mulleripicus , Dryocopus and Celeus . ^[4] Some of the relationships between the species within Colaptes are uncertain, with various genetic studies reporting slightly different phylogenies, but it is evident that those species with "flicker" in their common name do not form a monophyletic group. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

The genus Colaptes contains 15 species. Of these, one, the Bermuda flicker, is now extinct: ^[7]

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Golden-olive woodpecker	Colaptes rubiginosus	east to Guyana, northwestern Argentina, and Trinidad and Tobago
	Bronze-winged woodpecker	Colaptes aeruginosus	northeastern Mexico from Tamaulipas to northern Veracruz
	Grey-crowned woodpecker	Colaptes auricularis	Mexico
	Crimson-mantled woodpecker	Colaptes rivolii	Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela
	Black-necked woodpecker	Colaptes atricollis	Peru
	Spot-breasted woodpecker	Colaptes punctigula	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela; also in eastern Panama
	Green-barred woodpecker	Colaptes melanochloros	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay
	Northern flicker	Colaptes auratus	North America, Cuba and Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands
	Gilded flicker	Colaptes chrysoides	the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico
	Guatemalan flicker	Colaptes mexicanoides	southern Mexico to Nicaragua
	Fernandina's flicker	Colaptes fernandinae	Cuba
	Chilean flicker	Colaptes pitius	Argentina and Chile
	Andean flicker	Colaptes rupicola	Peru, Chile, eastern Bolivia and northeastern Argentina
	Campo flicker	Colaptes campestris	Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northeastern Argentina, Suriname

• † Bermuda flicker (Colaptes oceanicus) - extinct, but may have survived into historical times - formerly Bermuda

References

1. "Picidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
2. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 14 (#3): 395-517 [457 Note]. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1823.tb00098.x.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 113. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Shakya, S.B.; Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.M.; Sheldon, F.H. (2017). "Tapping the woodpecker tree for evolutionary insight". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 116: 182–191. Bibcode:2017MolPE.116..182S. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.005 . PMID   28890006.
5. Moore, W.S.; Overton, L.C.; Miglia, K.J. (2011). "Mitochondrial DNA based phylogeny of the woodpecker genera Colaptes and Piculus, and implications for the history of woodpecker diversification in South America". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 58 (#1): 76–84. Bibcode:2011MolPE..58...76M. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.09.011. PMID   20863898.
6. Dufort, Matthew J. (2016). "An augmented supermatrix phylogeny of the avian family Picidae reveals uncertainty deep in the family tree". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 94 (Pt A): 313–326. Bibcode:2016MolPE..94..313D. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.08.025. PMID   26416706.
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 May 2025.

External links

• Media related to Colaptes at Wikimedia Commons