Picus (genus)


Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The genus name is Latin for "woodpecker". The genus Picus was erected by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.
These are large woodpeckers, typically with green upperparts. They are found in forests or more open woodland, and lay their white eggs in a tree hole nest, typically on a bed of wood chips. Picus woodpeckers are primarily insect eaters, with several species specialising in taking ants or termites. Some species will also consume fruit or eggs. Insects are captured by a rapid outward flick of the long tongue and gummed to its tip by sticky saliva. This genus is less completely arboreal than some other woodpecker groups, and its members often feed on the ground, attacking anthills or termitaries.

Taxonomy

The genus Picus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name is the Latin word for a woodpecker. Picus was a figure in Roman mythology, the first king of Latium who was changed into a woodpecker by the sorceress Circe. Of the 13 species in the genus listed by Linnaeus, the English naturalist William John Swainson designated the European green woodpecker as the type species.
The genus contains 13 species:
ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Lesser yellownapePicus chlorolophusIndia, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka eastwards to Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Crimson-winged woodpeckerPicus puniceusBrunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.
Streak-breasted woodpeckerPicus viridanussoutheastern Bangladesh to central Malay Peninsula.
Laced woodpeckerPicus vittatusCambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Streak-throated woodpeckerPicus xanthopygaeusIndia
Scaly-bellied woodpeckerPicus squamatusAfghanistan, Iran, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan.
Japanese green woodpeckerPicus awokeraJapan.
European green woodpeckerPicus viridisEurope south from southern Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Asia Minor, northern Iran and south-west Turkmenistan.
Iberian green woodpeckerPicus sharpeiEurope
Levaillant's woodpeckerPicus vaillantiiMorocco, Algeria and Tunisia in northwest Africa
Red-collared woodpeckerPicus rabieriCambodia, China, Laos, and Vietnam.
Black-headed woodpeckerPicus erythropygiusCambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Grey-headed woodpeckerPicus canusCentral, Northern and Eastern Europe, as well as a wide belt south of the boreal coniferous forests across Asia all the way to the Pacific coast, Sakhalin and Hokkaidō

Former species

The following were formerly included in Picus, but are now placed in Chrysophlegma.
An extinct woodpecker has been described from a fossil of a left tarsometatarsus dating from late Miocene. It may belong to this genus and has been given the binomial name Picus peregrinabundus.