Chloropicus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae that are native to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Chloropicus
Bearded woodpecker Chloropicus namaquus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Tribe: Melanerpini
Genus: Chloropicus
Malherbe, 1845
Type species
Picus (Chloropicus) pyrrhogaster[1]
Malherbe, 1845
Species

3, see text

Taxonomy

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The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Alfred Malherbe in 1845 with the fire-bellied woodpecker (Chloropicus pyrrhogaster) as the type species.[2] The word Chloropicus is from the Greek khlōros meaning green and pikos meaning woodpecker.[3] Molecular genetic studies have shown that the genus Chloropicus is sister to the genus Dendropicos.[4][5] Species in this genus were previously sometimes assigned to Dendropicos.[6][7]

The genus contains the three species:[7]

Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
  Chloropicus namaquus Bearded woodpecker Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
  Chloropicus xantholophus Yellow-crested woodpecker Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
  Chloropicus pyrrhogaster Fire-bellied woodpecker Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and western Cameroon

References

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  1. ^ "Picidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  2. ^ Malherbe, Alfred (1845). "Description de dix espéces nouvelles du genre Picus, Linné". Revue Zoologique par la Société Cuvierienne (in French and Latin). 8: 399.
  3. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ^ Shakya, S.B.; Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.-M.; Sheldon, F.H. (2017). "Tapping the woodpecker tree for evolutionary insight". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 116: 182–191. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.005. PMID 28890006.
  5. ^ Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.-M.; Bowie, R.C.K. (2017). "Biogeography and diversification dynamics of the African woodpeckers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 108: 88–100. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.01.007. PMID 28089840.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Woodpeckers". World Bird List Version 6.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 May 2016.