Lesser spotted woodpecker
| Lesser spotted woodpecker | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Dryobates |
| Species: | D. minor |
| Binomial name | |
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Dryobates minor (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Dendrocopos minor |
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Dendrocopos minor
The lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It was formerly assigned to the genus Dendrocopos (sometimes incorrectly spelt as Dendrocopus). Some taxonomic authorities continue to list the species there.
The range of the lesser spotted woodpecker is the Palearctic region, but several subspecies are recognised.
The lesser spotted woodpecker was listed by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Picus minor. The species was moved to the genus Dendrocopos by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 based on nuclear and DNA sequences found that the species placed in the genus Dendrocopos did not form a monophyletic group. In the revised generic classification, the lesser spotted woodpecker was placed in the resurrected genus Dryobates, that had originally been introduced by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The genus name Dryobates is from the Ancient Greek druos meaning woodland and batēs meaning walker. The specific minor is Latin for "smaller".
There are 13 recognised subspecies:
From its small size and its habit of spending most of its time in the tops of tall trees in woods and parks, this little woodpecker is often overlooked, but if sighted on a trunk it may at once be identified by the broad barring on the wings and narrower bars across the lower back.
The male has a crimson crown, a brown forehead, a black superciliary stripe, and another from the base of the bill to the neck. The nape and upper back are black, but the lower back is barred with black and white. On the wings are broader and more conspicuous bars, and the outer tail feathers are also barred. The under parts are white with streaks on the flanks. The bill and legs are slate-grey.
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Wikipedia