Gecinulus Explained

Gecinulus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The species are found in South and Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

The genus Gecinulus was introduced by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1840 to accommodate the pale-headed woodpecker (Gecinulus grantia).^[1] The genus name is a diminutive of the genus name Gecinus which had been introduced by the German ornithologist Friedrich Boie in 1831. Gecinus combines the Classical Greek gē meaning "earth" or "ground" with kineō meaning "to move".^[2]

The genus contains three species:^[3]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Gecinulus rafflesii		Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia
	Gecinulus grantia		Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam
	Gecinulus viridis		Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula

Notes and References

1. Blyth . Edward . Edward Blyth . 1845 . Notices and descriptions of various new or little known species of birds . Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal . 14, Part 1 . 159 . 173–220 [192] .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 171 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . 2020 . Woodpeckers . IOC World Bird List Version 10.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 17 May 2020 .