''Dendropicos'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

woodpecker 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. ...

s in the family

Picidae 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. M ...

. They are small woodpeckers that are native to the

sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...

woodlands and forests.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Dendropicos'' was introduced by the French ornithologist,

Alfred Malherbe Alfred Malherbe (14 July 1804 – 14 August 1865) was a French magistrate and amateur naturalist born in Mauritius to Pierre Marie François Malherbe and Rosalie Le Meusnier Molineuf. The family originally came from Metz. Alfred became the admi ...

in 1849. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

was subsequently designated as one of the

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

cardinal woodpecker The cardinal woodpecker (''Dendropicos fuscescens'') is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dense forest to thorn bush. It is fairly vocal and is easily ident ...

. The word ''Dendropicos'' comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''dendron'' meaning tree and ''pikos'' for woodpecker. Molecular genetic studies have shown that the genus ''Dendropicos'' is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to the genus ''

Chloropicus ''Chloropicus'' is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae that are native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Taxonomy The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Alfred Malherbe in 1845 with the fire-bellied woodpecker (''Chloropicus pyr ...

''. The genus ''Dendropicos'' formerly contained several additional species. A 2015

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study that analysed nuclear and

mitochondrial A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is use ...

DNA sequences from pied woodpeckers found that ''Dendropicos'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

. In the rearranged genera the bearded, fire-bellied and yellow breasted woodpeckers were moved to ''

'' while the Arabian woodpecker was moved to ''

Dendrocoptes ''Dendrocoptes'' is a genus of woodpeckers in the (family Picidae) native to Eurasia. Taxonomy The genus ''Dendrocoptes'' was erected by the German ornithologists Jean Cabanis and Ferdinand Heine in 1863 with the middle spotted woodpecker (''Den ...

''. The taxonomic committee of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

have recommended an alternative arrangement of species in which the genera ''

'' and '' Leiopicus'' are combined into a larger ''Dendropicos''. Elliot's, African grey, eastern grey and olive woodpeckers are sometimes placed in a separate genus, ''Mesopicos''. The genus contains the following 12 species:

Description

Only males have red plumage in the crown, and some species have red plumage on the rump or belly in either sex.

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Alfred Malherbe Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{woodpecker-stub