Dryobates
Dryobates is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The species are widely destributed and occur in both Eurasia and the Americas.
Taxonomy
The genus Dryobates was named by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the downy woodpecker as the type species.The genus name Dryobates is from the Greek compound word δρυο-βάτης : 'woodland walker'; from : drus meaning woodland and : -bátēs meaning walker. In the eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, the genus Dryobates is expanded to include all the species in Leuconotopicus and Veniliornis.
The genus contains the following species:
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
| Dryobates nuttalli | Nuttall's woodpecker | northern California extending south towards the northwest region of Baja California, Mexico | |
| Dryobates pubescens | Downy woodpecker | North America | |
| Dryobates scalaris | Ladder-backed woodpecker | southwestern United States, most of Mexico, and locally in Central America as far south as Nicaragua | |
| Dryobates minor | Lesser spotted woodpecker | Europe | |
| Dryobates cathpharius | Crimson-breasted woodpecker | Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam |