The sapsuckers are species of North American woodpeckers in 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 ...

''Sphyrapicus''.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus ''Sphyrapicus'' was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird with the yellow-bellied sapsucker (''Sphyrapicus varius'') as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. The genus name combines 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 ...

''sphura'' meaning "hammer" and ''pikos'' meaning "woodpecker". The genus is

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 ...

to the genus '' Melanerpes''; both genera are members 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 ...

Melanerpini in 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. There are four currently recognized species in the genus:

Description

The members of this genus are slender birds with stiff tails and relatively long wings. Their typical pattern in flight is undulating, alternating between quick bursts of wing beats and short dips with wings tucked against the body.

Behavior

As their name implies, sapsuckers feed primarily on the sap of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s, moving among different tree and shrub species on a seasonal basis.

Insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, especially those attracted to the sweet sap exuding from sap holes, are often captured and fed to the young during the breeding season. The most easily recognized sap holes are found in birch trees during the breeding season. Because sapsuckers attack living trees, they are often considered a pest species. Intensive feeding by sapsuckers is a cause of severe tree damage and mortality, with certain tree species more adversely affected by feeding than others. A USDA Forest Service study found that 67 percent of gray birch ('' Betula populifolia'') trees damaged by yellow-bellied sapsuckers later died of their injuries. This compares to a mortality of 51 percent for paper birch ('' Betula papyrifera''), 40 percent for red maple ('' Acer rubrum''), 3 percent for red spruce ('' Picea rubens''), and 1 percent for hemlock ('' Tsuga canadensis'').

References

External links

Sapsucker genus
{{Taxonbar, from=Q936752 Birds of North America Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird Taxa described in 1858