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The lesser spotted woodpecker (''Dryobates minor'') is a member of the
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 ...
family Picidae. It was formerly assigned to the
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
'' Dendrocopos'' (sometimes incorrectly spelt as ''Dendrocopus''). Some taxonomic authorities continue to list the species there. The range of the lesser spotted woodpecker is the
Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...
region, but several subspecies are recognised.


Taxonomy

The lesser spotted woodpecker was listed by the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...
'' under the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Picus minor''. The species was moved to the
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
'' Dendrocopos'' by the German naturalist
Carl Ludwig Koch Carl Ludwig Koch (21 September 1778 – 23 August 1857) was a German entomologist and arachnologist. He was responsible for classifying a great number of spiders, including the Brazilian whiteknee tarantula and common house spider. He was born ...
in 1816. A
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 published in 2015 based on 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 used ...
DNA sequences found that the species placed in the genus ''Dendrocopos'' did not form a monophyletic group. In the revised generic classification, the lesser spotted woodpecker was placed in the resurrected genus ''Dryobates'', that had originally been 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 genus name ''Dryobates'' 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 ...
' meaning woodland and ''batēs'' meaning walker. The specific ''minor'' is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "smaller". There are 13 recognised
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
: *''D. m. comminutus'' (
Hartert Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published German people, German ornithologist. Life and career Hartert was born in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married ...
, 1907) – England and Wales *''D. m. minor'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Scandinavia and northeast Poland to the
Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
*''D. m. kamtschatkensis'' ( Malherbe, 1860) – Ural Mountains to the
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...
and northern Mongolia *''D. m. immaculatus'' ( Stejneger, 1884) – Anadyr Basin and
Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
(east Siberia) *''D. m. amurensis'' ( Buturlin, 1908) – northeast China, Siberia, Korea and
Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
(Japan) *''D. m. hortorum'' ( Brehm, CL, 1831) – central Europe *''D. m. buturlini'' Hartert, 1912 – southern Europe *''D. m. danfordi'' ( Hargitt, 1883) – Greece and Turkey *''D. m. colchicus'' (Buturlin, 1908)
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
and
Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...
*''D. m. quadrifasciatus'' ( Radde, 1884) – southeast
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
*''D. m. hyrcanus'' ( Zarudny & Bilkevitch, 1913) – north Iran *''D. m. morgani'' (Zarudny & Loudon, 1904) – southwest Iran *''D. m. ledouci'' (Malherbe, 1855) – northwest Africa


Description

This is the smallest European woodpecker, with adults being long with a wing span of and weighing . A sample of 50 lesser spotted woodpeckers in Great Britain averaged in body mass. From its small size and its habit of spending most of its time in the tops of tall trees in woods and parks, this little woodpecker is often overlooked, but if sighted on a trunk it may at once be identified by the broad barring on the wings and narrower bars across the lower back. The male has a crimson crown, a brown forehead, a black superciliary stripe, and another from the base of the bill to the neck. The nape and upper back are black, but the lower back is barred with black and white. On the wings are broader and more conspicuous bars, and the outer tail feathers are also barred. The under parts are white with streaks on the flanks. The bill and legs are slate-grey. In the female the crown is white, but the young birds of both sexes have more or less crimson on the head. There are no marked seasonal changes.


Ecology

Its habits are very similar to those of the great spotted woodpecker, and it has the same stumpy appearance, almost triangular, when bounding from tree to tree. Its note is a repeated "keek", loud for so small a bird, and its vibrating rattle can with experience be distinguished from that of the larger species. This substitute for a song may be heard at all times, but most frequently when courtship begins early in the year. Its insect food is similar to that of the great spotted woodpecker. When hunting for wood-boring larvae it chips away at the rotten wood, and the litter at the foot of a tree is often the first indication that insects are attacking upper branches. From autumn to spring it hunts mainly on wood-living insect larvae, frequently from thin dead branches in living trees. Through the breeding season, surface-living insects from the foliage and bark of trees make up an increased amount of the diet. Nestlings are mainly fed with surface-living insects, such as aphids and larval insects. At night it roosts in old holes. A litter of chips is also a guide to a nesting hole, for the bird does not always carry these away when excavating. The hole is usually at a considerable height above the ground and may be as high as . It is a smaller burrow than that of the great spotted woodpecker, measuring from in diameter. The shaft varies, the nesting cavity often being or more below the entrance. Five to eight highly polished white eggs are laid upon wood dust and chips in the latter half of May, and a single brood is the rule. Both birds help to incubate. Occasionally an old or natural hollow is used or enlarged. Populations of lesser spotted woodpeckers are mostly resident, but can be nomadic to some degree. Annual fluctuations in population numbers are common. The winter temperatures may have a direct effect on winter survival of lesser spotted woodpeckers by heat loss, whereas weather conditions during spring have an indirect effect on breeding performance by affecting food sources. In 2017, the UK population of lesser spotted woodpeckers was reported to have almost halved since 2009, to around 2,000. The British Ornithology Trust blamed modern habits of removing dead trees quickly from parks and woodland, depriving the birds of the decaying wood which is their favoured nesting habitat.


References


Further reading

*Steen R., Selås V. & Stenberg I. 2006. Impact of weather on annual fluctuations in breeding numbers of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor in Norway. Ardea 94(2): 225–231. (download articl


External links


Oiseaux
Photos
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.6 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
{{Authority control Dryobates, lesser spotted woodpecker Birds of Eurasia lesser spotted woodpecker Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus