The white-bellied piculet (''Picumnus spilogaster'') is a

Vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Picumninae The piculets are a distinctive subfamily, Picumninae, of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America, with just three Asian and one African species. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets have large heads, long tongues which the ...

of the woodpecker 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 ...

. It is found in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-bellied piculet has these three subspecies: *''P. s. orinocensis'' Zimmer, J.T. & Phelps, W.H., 1950 *''P. s. spilogaster'' Sundevall, 1866 *''P. s. pallidus'' Snethlage, E., 1924 The species was at one time known as ''P. leucogaster'' and has also sometimes been treated as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of the

arrowhead piculet The arrowhead piculet or Guianan piculet (''Picumnus minutissimus'') is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Suriname and possibly French Guiana and Guyana.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg ...

(''P. minutissimus''). Subspecies ''P. s. pallidus'' has been treated as a separate species and also as a subspecies of the arrowhead piculet. What is now the

black-dotted piculet The black-dotted piculet (''Picumnus nigropunctatus''), also known as the black-spotted piculet, is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The taxono ...

(''P. nigropunctatus'') has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of the white-bellied.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022Winkler, H., D. A. Christie, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). White-bellied Piculet (''Picumnus spilogaster''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whbpic2.01 retrieved January 11, 2023

Description

The white-bellied piculet is long and weighs . Adult males of the

nominate 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 ...

''P. s. spilogaster'' have a black cap with a red patch on the forehead and white spots on the rest of it. Their face is mostly dark brown with white tips on some feathers. Their upperparts are olive brown with diffuse pale grayish barring. Their flight feathers are brown with light buff edges, especially on the secondaries and

tertials Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

. Their tail is dark brown; the innermost pair of feathers have mostly white inner webs and the outer two pairs have mostly white outer webs. Their chin, throat, and sides of the neck feathers are whitish with blackish bars. Their upper breast is pale yellowish buff with broad black bars and the lower breast and belly are creamy white with wide black spots. Adult females are identical but for no red on the forehead. Juveniles are more heavily barred than adults and have buffier underparts. Subspecies ''P. s. orinocensis'' has mostly plain underparts, sometimes with

vermiculation Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...

on the flanks. ''P. s. pallidus'' is essentially the same as the nominate but slightly smaller with a shorter tail.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of white-bellied piculet is found in northern Guyana and northern Brazil's state of

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

. ''P. s. orinocensis'' is found in central Venezuela along the

Rio Meta The Meta River is a major left tributary of the Orinoco River in eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela, South America. The Meta originates in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes and flows through the Meta Department, Colombia as the confluence of ...

and

Rio Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

. ''P. s. pallidus'' is found in the

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...

area of Brazil's

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana and Sur ...

state. The species inhabits a variety of wooded landscapes including

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, deciduous forest, mangroves, and open woodland. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to about .

Behavior

Movement

As far as is known, the white-bellied piculet is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The white-bellied piculet has been observed feeding in pairs but nothing is known about its foraging technique or diet.

Breeding

The white-bellied piculet's breeding season is probably from September to November, but nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The white-bellied piculet's vocalization is a very high to extremely high "descending, shivering, slow trill."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

originally assessed the white-bellied piculet as being of Least Concern but since 2012 has rated it as Vulnerable. The primary threat is deforestation for agriculture and ranching.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1264620 white-bellied piculet Birds of Venezuela white-bellied piculet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot