Beautiful woodpecker
| Beautiful woodpecker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adult male (foreground, above) and female (background, below) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Melanerpes |
| Species: | M. pulcher |
| Binomial name | |
| Melanerpes pulcher (Sclater, 1870) | |
The beautiful woodpecker (Melanerpes pulcher) is a bird species in the woodpecker family (Picidae). It is endemic to Colombia.
Until recently, it was united with the golden-naped woodpecker (M. chrysauchen) of Central America as subspecies. But the different appearance and allopatric ranges argue in favor of recognizing the two as distinct species. According to "Birds of Northern South America" by Robin Restall the back is barred and the belly and breast are white, but that appears to be in error based on photos of the birds in Colombia.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Melanerpes pulcher". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
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