Buff-rumped woodpecker

A specimen of M. grammithorax was included in a collection of twenty-one Sumatran bird specimens presented to Lord Edward Smith-Stanley in 1825 by Sir Stamford Raffles, who labelled it as a zebra woodpecker (then called Picus tristis). As of 2020 the original specimen was still held at the National Museums Liverpool.^[3]

M. grammithorax was described as a distinct species in 1862 by the French magistrate and amateur naturalist Alfred Malherbe in his four-volume work Monographie des picidées.^[4]

The buff-rumped woodpecker has a small nuchal crest, black-and-white wings and fine barring on the belly. Males have a red "mustache" stripe. The buff-rumped woodpecker is distinguished by a prominent whitish-buff rump patch (though this is not always visible).^[5][6]

The American ornithologist James Chapin noted that first primary feather in the juvenal (or juvenile) plumage of M. grammithorax was reduced, a feature not seen in the adult plumage. A similar reduction of one or more of the primary features was noted in several other species of woodpeckers.^[7]

M. grammithorax is found in southern Myanmar, Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo where it primarily occupies subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.^[2] It was previously observed in Singapore but is thought to be locally extirpated due to habitat loss.^[6]

Buff-rumped woodpeckers often forage in pairs and have been observed joining mixed flocks with other insectivorous birds.^[5] They have been observed leaf-gleaning and foraging for ants in the forest canopy.^[5][6]

An observational study of banded woodpeckers conducted in 2025 noted a pair of buff-rumped woodpeckers repurposing and excavating an old nest-hole used by another species.^[8]

The species is presumed to be threatened by the conversion of native forests in the Sundaic region to palm-oil and rubber plantations.^[9]