Dendropicos
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dendropicos is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae. They are small woodpeckers that are native to the sub-Saharan woodlands and forests.[1]
.jpg)
| Dendropicos | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Tribe: | Melanerpini |
| Genus: | Dendropicos Malherbe, 1849 |
| Type species | |
| Dendropicos lafresnayi (cardinal woodpecker) Malherbe, 1849 | |
| Species | |
|
see text | |
Taxonomy
The genus Dendropicos was introduced by the French ornithologist, Alfred Malherbe in 1849.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as one of the subspecies of the cardinal woodpecker.[3][4] The word Dendropicos comes from the Greek dendron meaning tree and pikos for woodpecker.[5] Molecular genetic studies have shown that the genus Dendropicos is sister to the genus Chloropicus.[6]
The genus Dendropicos formerly contained several additional species. A 2015 molecular phylogenetic study that analysed nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences from pied woodpeckers found that Dendropicos was polyphyletic. In the rearranged genera the bearded, fire-bellied and yellow breasted woodpeckers were moved to Chloropicus while the Arabian woodpecker was moved to Dendrocoptes.[7][8] The taxonomic committee of the British Ornithologists' Union have recommended an alternative arrangement of species in which the genera Dendrocoptes and Leiopicus are combined into a larger Dendropicos.[9]
Elliot's, African grey, eastern grey and olive woodpeckers are sometimes placed in a separate genus, Mesopicos.[1]
The genus contains the following 12 species:[8]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Little grey woodpecker | Dendropicos elachus | Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan |
,_Dendropicos_poecilolaemus.jpg) | Speckle-breasted woodpecker | Dendropicos poecilolaemus | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda. |
 | Abyssinian woodpecker | Dendropicos abyssinicus | Eritrea and Ethiopia |
.jpg) | Cardinal woodpecker | Dendropicos fuscescens | Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe |
 | Gabon woodpecker | Dendropicos gabonensis | Southern Nigeria to south-western Cameroon |
.jpg) | Melancholy woodpecker | Dendropicos lugubris | Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo |
,_Dendropicos_stierlingi.jpg) | Stierling's woodpecker | Dendropicos stierlingi | southern Tanzania, southwestern Malawi and northern Mozambique |
| Elliot's woodpecker | Dendropicos elliotii | Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda | |
,_crop.jpg) | African grey woodpecker | Dendropicos goertae | Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda |
 | Eastern grey woodpecker | Dendropicos spodocephalus | Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan and Tanzania |
 | Olive woodpecker | Dendropicos griseocephalus | Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe |
,_crop.jpg) | Brown-backed woodpecker | Dendropicos obsoletus | Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda |
Description
Only males have red plumage in the crown, and some species have red plumage on the rump or belly in either sex.[1]
