Rufous Woodpecker

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iRufous Woodpecker
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae Genus: Micropternus Species: M. brachyurus
Binomial name
Micropternus brachyurus (Vieillot, 1818)

The Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus is a brown woodpecker found in South Asia. It is medium sized with black vermiculations on its rufous body and a dark eye stripe. The species has a weak and slightly curved bill. It builds its nests within the nests of ants of the species Crematogaster.

This species was usually placed in the South American genus Celeus, but it differed from these species in many aspects. DNA sequence analyses have confirmed that the Rufous Woodpecker should be placed in the monotypic genus Micropternus. Its closest relatives seem to be the enigmatic woodpeckers of the genus Meiglyptes and possibly Hemicircus (Benz et al., 2006)

[edit] References

• Benz, Brett W.; Robbins, Mark B. & Peterson, A. Townsend (2006): Evolutionary history of woodpeckers and allies (Aves: Picidae): Placing key taxa on the phylogenetic tree. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 389–399. DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021
• BirdLife International (2004). Celeus brachyurus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern