''Dryocopus'' is a genus of large powerful

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), 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 ...

s, typically 35–45 cm in length. It has representatives in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

; some South American species are

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

. It was believed to be closely related to the American genus ''

Campephilus ''Campephilus'' is a genus of large American woodpeckers in the family Picidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Campephilus'' was introduced by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1840, with the ivory-billed woodpecker (''Campephilus principalis'') as ...

'', but it is part of a different lineage of woodpeckers altogether (Benz ''et al.'', 2006) Their breeding

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is forested areas with large trees, where they nest in a large cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. They may excavate a new hole each year, creating habitat for other large cavity nesting birds. They are

non-migratory Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

permanent residents. They are mainly black in

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

with red on the crown of the head, often as a crest. Most species also have some white areas of plumage, especially on the head, and some have additional red facial markings. The male, female and juvenile plumages of each species usually differ, often in the extent of red on the crown and elsewhere on the head. The flight is strong and direct, and the calls are typically loud wild laughs. The drumming of these large birds can be heard from a great distance. ''Dryocopus'' woodpeckers chip out large holes with their strong bills while searching out insects, especially

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

larvae in trees. They will also take fruits, berries, and nuts.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Dryocopus'' was introduced by the German naturalist

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...

in 1826. The name is from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

word for a woodpecker ''druokopos'' combining "tree" and "beating". The genus forms part of the woodpecker

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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Picinae Picinae containing the true woodpeckers is one of four subfamilies that make up the woodpecker family Picidae. True woodpeckers are found over much of the world, but do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia. Woodpeckers gained their English nam ...

and has a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent 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 ref ...

relationship to the genus ''

Mulleripicus ''Mulleripicus'' is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. They are found in South and Southeast Asia. The genus forms part of the woodpecker subfamily Picinae and has a sister relationship to the genus ''Dryocopus'' whose species are ...

'' whose species are found in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The genus ''Dryocopus'' is a member of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Picini and belongs to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

that contains five genera: ''

Colaptes ''Colaptes'' is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The 14 extant species are found across the Americas. ''Colaptes'' woodpeckers typically have a brown or green back and wings with black barring, and a beige to yellowish undersid ...

'', '' Piculus'', ''Mulleripicus'', ''Dryocopus'' and ''

Celeus Celeus ( ) or Keleus () was the king of Eleusis in Greek mythology, husband of Metaneira and father of several daughters, who are called Callidice, Demo, Cleisidice and Callithoe in the '' Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', and Diogeneia, Pammerope ...

''. The genus contains six species.

References

Sources

* * Gorman, Gerard (2004): Woodpeckers of Europe: A Study of the European Picidae. Bruce Coleman, UK. . * Gorman, Gerard (2011): The Black Woodpecker: A monograph on Dryocopus martius. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. . * Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol & Inskipp, Tim (1999): ''Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.. {{Authority control Bird genera Taxa named by Friedrich Boie