Dendropicos is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae. They are small woodpeckers that are native to the sub-Saharan woodlands and forests.[1]
The genus Dendropicos was introduced by the French ornithologist, Alfred Malherbe in 1849.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as one of the subspecies of the cardinal woodpecker.[3][4] The word Dendropicos comes from the Greek dendron meaning tree and pikos for woodpecker.[5] Molecular genetic studies have shown that the genus Dendropicos is sister to the genus Chloropicus.[6]
The genus Dendropicos formerly contained several additional species. A 2015 molecular phylogenetic study that analysed nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences from pied woodpeckers found that Dendropicos was polyphyletic. In the rearranged genera the bearded, fire-bellied and yellow breasted woodpeckers were moved to Chloropicus while the Arabian woodpecker was moved to Dendrocoptes.[7][8] The taxonomic committee of the British Ornithologists' Union have recommended an alternative arrangement of species in which the genera Dendrocoptes and Leiopicus are combined into a larger Dendropicos.[9]
Elliot's, African grey, eastern grey and olive woodpeckers are sometimes placed in a separate genus, Mesopicos.[1]
The genus contains the following 12 species:[8]
Only males have red plumage in the crown, and some species have red plumage on the rump or belly in either sex.[1]
Dendropicos is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae. They are small woodpeckers that are native to the sub-Saharan woodlands and forests.
