Orange-backed woodpecker explained

The orange-backed woodpecker (Chrysocolaptes validus) is a bird in the woodpecker family Picidae, found in southern Thailand, Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia, Brunei, Sumatra, and Java. It is monotypic in the genus Reinwardtipicus. It is a forest specialist that is found primarily in the canopy.^[1]

Taxonomy

The orange-backed woodpecker was described and illustrated in 1825 by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in his Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux from specimens that had been collected on the Indonesian island of Java. He coined the binomial name Pic validus.^[2]

Two subspecies are recognised:^[3]

• C. v. xanthopygius (Finsch, 1905) – the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo
• C. v. validus (Temminck, 1825) – Java

Notes and References

1. Wies . Germán . Nicasio Arzeta . Sergio . Martinez Ramos . Miguel . March 2021 . Critical ecological thresholds for conservation of tropical rainforest in Human Modified Landscapes . Biological Conservation . 255 . 109023 . 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109023 . 0006-3207.
2. Book: Temminck, Coenraad Jacob . Coenraad Jacob Temminck . 1838 . 1825 . Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux, pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon . 4 . Plates 378 (male), 402 (female) . F.G. Levrault . Paris . fr . The pages are not numbered. The five volumes were originally issued in 102 parts, 1820-1839
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 . 24 May 2020 .