Melanerpes | |
---|---|
Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Tribe: | Melanerpini |
Genus: | Melanerpes Swainson, 1832 |
Type species | |
Picus erythrocephalus [1] Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text |
Melanerpes is a genus of woodpeckers of the family Picidae found in the Americas. The 24 members of the genus are mostly colourful birds, conspicuously barred in black and white, with some red and yellow.
The genus Melanerpes was introduced by the English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832 to accommodate the red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). [2] The generic name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with herpēs meaning "creeper". [3] The genus forms part of the large tribe Melanerpini, which also includes the North American sapsuckers in the genus Sphyrapicus and the monotypic genus Xiphidiopicus containing only the Cuban green woodpecker (Xiphidiopicus percussus). [4]
Members of Melanerpes are small to medium-sized woodpeckers found exclusively in the New World. Some are West Indian endemics, and include species from Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Guadeloupe; one subspecies, the Grand Bahama West Indian woodpecker (M. superciliaris bahamensis) became extinct in the 1950s. The majority of the species are from Central and South America. [5] Most species are boldly marked in black and white, with some areas of red and yellow. [6] The beaks are long and pointed, and sometimes curved. The sexes differ in many species, both in colour and in size. [5]
Some species such as the acorn woodpecker and the yellow-tufted woodpecker are sociable, foraging in groups, communicating vocally and nesting communally. These have complex breeding systems including some non-breeding adult helpers assisting in rearing the young. Like other woodpeckers, insects form a large part of the diet, being caught on the wing in some species, but fruit is also eaten in large quantities and some species consume sap. They all nest in holes that they excavate in trees, and the red-crowned woodpecker and the Hoffmann's woodpecker are unusual in that they sometimes enter their holes backwards. [6]
The genus includes 24 species: [7]
Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
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White woodpecker | Melanerpes candidus | Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. | |
Lewis's woodpecker | Melanerpes lewis | western and central United States | |
Guadeloupe woodpecker | Melanerpes herminieri | Guadeloupe archipelago | |
Puerto Rican woodpecker | Melanerpes portoricensis | Puerto Rico | |
Red-headed woodpecker | Melanerpes erythrocephalus | southern Canada and the east-central United States. | |
Acorn woodpecker | Melanerpes formicivorus | Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia. | |
Yellow-tufted woodpecker | Melanerpes cruentatus | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. | |
Yellow-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes flavifrons | Brazil, Paraguay and far northeastern Argentina. | |
Golden-naped woodpecker | Melanerpes chrysauchen | Costa Rica and western Panama | |
Beautiful woodpecker | Melanerpes pulcher | Colombia. | |
Black-cheeked woodpecker | Melanerpes pucherani | southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador. | |
White-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes cactorum | Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. | |
Hispaniolan woodpecker | Melanerpes striatus | Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) | |
Jamaican woodpecker | Melanerpes radiolatus | Jamaica. | |
Golden-cheeked woodpecker | Melanerpes chrysogenys | Mexico | |
Grey-breasted woodpecker | Melanerpes hypopolius | southwestern Mexico. | |
Yucatan woodpecker | Melanerpes pygmaeus | Belize and Mexico | |
Red-crowned woodpecker | Melanerpes rubricapillus | Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago. | |
Gila woodpecker | Melanerpes uropygialis | southwestern United States and western Mexico. | |
Hoffmann's woodpecker | Melanerpes hoffmannii | southern Honduras south to Costa Rica | |
Golden-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes aurifrons | Texas and Oklahoma in the United States through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and northern Nicaragua. | |
Velasquez's woodpecker | Melanerpes santacruzi | southern Mexico and parts of Central America. | |
Red-bellied woodpecker | Melanerpes carolinus | eastern United States | |
West Indian woodpecker | Melanerpes superciliaris | Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. | |
Picinae containing the true woodpeckers is one of four subfamilies that make up the woodpecker family Picidae. True woodpeckers are found over much of the world, but do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia.
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.
The acorn woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with a length of around 20 cm (8 in), and an average weight of 85 g (3.0 oz). It is found across Central America, as well as North into the western United States and South into parts of Colombia.
The red-bellied woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae. It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. Though it has a vivid orange-red crown and nape it is not to be confused with the red-headed woodpecker, a separate species of woodpecker in the same genus with an entirely red head and neck that sports a solid black back and white belly. The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish tint on its lower underside.
The red-breasted sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the forests of the west coast of North America.
The sapsuckers are species of North American woodpeckers in the genus Sphyrapicus.
Dinopium is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The species are found in South and Southeast Asia.
Campephilus is a genus of large American woodpeckers in the family Picidae.
Lewis's woodpecker is a large North American species of woodpecker which ornithologist Alexander Wilson named after Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the United States of America as part of the Louisiana Purchase and first described this species of bird.
Dryocopus is a genus of large powerful woodpeckers, typically 35–45 cm in length. It has representatives in North and South America, Europe, and Asia; some South American species are endangered. It was believed to be closely related to the American genus Campephilus, but it is part of a different lineage of woodpeckers altogether
Colaptes is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The 14 species are found across the Americas.
The black-cheeked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found from Mexico south to Ecuador.
Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The genus name is Latin for "woodpecker". The genus Picus was erected by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.
The ground woodpecker is one of only three ground-dwelling woodpeckers in the world. It inhabits rather barren, steep, boulder-strewn slopes in relatively cool hilly and mountainous areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini and has yet to be recorded outside of Southern Africa. It is found in a broad swath running from southwest to northeast, from the Cape Peninsula and Namaqualand to Mpumalanga. It is closely related to the woodpeckers of the genus Campethera, some of which also employ terrestrial foraging strategies.
Campethera is a genus of bird in the family Picidae, or woodpeckers, that are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Most species are native to woodland and savanna rather than deep forest, and multiple species exhibit either arboreal or terrestrial foraging strategies. Its nearest relative is the monotypic genus Geocolaptes of southern Africa, which employs terrestrial foraging and breeding strategies. They are however not close relatives of similar-looking woodpeckers in the "Dendropicos clade".
Dendropicos is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae. They are small woodpeckers that are native to the sub-Saharan woodlands and forests.
Meiglyptes is a genus of Southeast Asian birds in the woodpecker family Picidae.
The yellow-tufted woodpecker is a species of woodpecker. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.
Piculus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae that are found in Central and South America.
Celeus is a genus of bird in the woodpecker family, Picidae, found in tropical and subtropical forests and woodlands of Central and South America. The genus contains 13 extant species. One, Kaempfer's woodpecker, was believed to be extinct until a specimen was caught in 2006.