Guadeloupe woodpecker


The Guadeloupe woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae.
It is endemic to Guadeloupe.

Taxonomy

The Guadeloupe woodpecker was given its scientific name Melanerpes herminieri after the naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier, who studied in Guadeloupe and authored numerous works on birds. The name of the genus Melanerpes comes from the Greek melas meaning "black" and herpēs meaning "climber". In the local Guadeloupe Creole, it is called Tapeur or Tapé. It is also called Toto bwa or Toc-toc.
The Guadeloupe woodpecker had been considered for some time as a monotypic genus, Linneopicus, before being definitely classified in the genus Melanerpes. It is possible that it evolved from the Puerto Rican woodpecker during the Pleistocene, itself derived phylogenetically from the red-headed woodpecker. There are no known subspecies of Melanerpes herminieri.

Habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest.
It is threatened by habitat loss.
The . page on the species says the following: "It inhabits semi-deciduous forest on igneous and clay ground, evergreen forest, mangroves and swamp forest, and excavates nest holes in the trunks of dead trees. It occurs from sea-level to the tree-line at 1,000 m, but is most common at 100-700 m. Habitats with the highest estimated population densities were seasonal evergreen secondary growth forest, followed by swamp forest and rainforest. Food items taken include a variety of invertebrates, vertebrates and fruit."