Dendrocopos

Dendrocopos is a widespread genus of woodpeckers from Asia and Europe and Northern Africa. The species range from the Philippines to the British Isles.

Dendrocopos
White-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Tribe:	Melanerpini
Genus:	Dendrocopos Koch, 1816
Species
See text

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816.[1] The name Dendrocopus combines the Greek words dendron meaning "tree" and kopos meaning "striking".[2] The type species was designated as the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) by the Scottish ornithologist Edward Hargitt in 1890 in his catalogue of woodpeckers in the collection of the British Museum.[3][4]

The genus Dendrocopos at one time contained around 25 species. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the pied woodpeckers published in 2015 found that Dendrocopos was polyphyletic. In the rearranged genera the number of species in Dendrocopos was reduced to 12 as listed below.[5][6]

Species

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Dendrocopos hyperythrus	Rufous-bellied woodpecker	Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, North Korea, South Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam
	Dendrocopos macei	Fulvous-breasted woodpecker	Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Myanmar
	Dendrocopos analis	Freckle-breasted woodpecker	Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
	Dendrocopos atratus	Stripe-breasted woodpecker	India to Vietnam and the province of Yunnan in southwestern China
	Dendrocopos darjellensis	Darjeeling woodpecker	Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet
	Dendrocopos himalayensis	Himalayan woodpecker	Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan.
	Dendrocopos assimilis	Sind woodpecker	India, Iran, and Pakistan
	Dendrocopos syriacus	Syrian woodpecker	southeastern Europe east to Iran
	Dendrocopos leucopterus	White-winged woodpecker	Afghanistan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
	Dendrocopos major	Great spotted woodpecker	British Isles to Japan, and in North Africa from Morocco to Tunisia
	Dendrocopos noguchii	Okinawa woodpecker	Okinawa in Japan
	Dendrocopos leucotos	White-backed woodpecker	Eastern Europe across the Palearctic to Japan

References

1. Koch, C.L. (1816). System der baierischen Zoologie (in German). Volume 1. Nürnberg: Stein. pp. xxvii, 72.
2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 180.
4. Hargitt, E. (1890). Volume 18: Catalogue of the Picariae in the collection of the British Museum. Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 201.
5. Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.M. (2015). "A new classification of the pied woodpeckers assemblage (Dendropicini, Picidae) based on a comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 88: 28–37. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.03.016. PMID 25818851.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Woodpeckers". World Bird List Version 6.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 May 2016.

Further reading

• Sangster, G.; et al. (2016). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: 11th report". Ibis. 158 (1): 206–212. doi:10.1111/ibi.12322.
• Winkler, H.; Gamauf, A.; Nittinger, F.; Haring, E. (2014). "Relationships of Old World woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae)—new insights and taxonomic implications". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, Series B für Botanik und Zoologie. 116: 69–86.