Sunda pygmy woodpecker explained

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis), also known as the Sunda woodpecker, is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Some taxonomic authorities continue to place this species in the genus Dendrocopos or Picoides.

Taxonomy

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other woodpeckers in the genus Picus and coined the binomial name Picus moluccensis.[1] Gmelin based his description on "Le petit épeiche brun des Moluques" that had been described in 1780 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.[2] [3] The locality was originally specified as the Maluku Islands. This was an error and has been corrected to the state of Malacca in Malaysia.[4] The Sunda pygmy woodpecker is now one of seven species placed in the genus Yungipicus that was introduced in 1854 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[5] [6]

Two subspecies are recognised:[6]

Description

This is a small woodpecker with an overall length of around . It has a greyish brown capped head, dark brown ear covers with two rather broad whitish grey bands narrowing towards neck. Upper parts greyish brown with white wings tipped with white thus appearing striped. Tail short and blackish with white bands. Lores and throat white leading into dirty white underparts. Upper breast streaked with brown reducing towards vent. Whitish underwing coverts with pale brown. Sexes dimorphic. Males have a reddish orange crown which is absent in females.[7]

Distribution and habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.[8]

Behaviour and ecology

A common visitor to urban areas and forests in Singapore. Often found singly or in pairs rapidly moving up trees. Found from ground right up into the topmost branches of trees on dead branches.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gmelin, Johann Friedrich . Johann Friedrich Gmelin. 1788 . Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 13th . 1, Part 1 . Latin . Lipsiae [Leipzig] . Georg. Emanuel. Beer . 439 .
  2. Book: Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . 1780 . Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . 7 . Paris . De l'Imprimerie Royale . 68 . Le petit épeiche brun des Moluques . French . https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069720s/f98.item .
  3. Book: Buffon . Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . Martinet . François-Nicolas . François-Nicolas Martinet . Daubenton . Edme-Louis . Edme-Louis Daubenton . Daubenton . Louis-Jean-Marie . Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton . 1765–1783 . Petit pic des Moluques . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle . 8 . Paris . De L'Imprimerie Royale . Plate 748, Fig. 2 . https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218391 .
  4. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1948 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 6 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 203 .
  5. Book: Bonaparte, Charles Lucien . Charles Lucien Bonaparte . 1854 . Quadro dei volucri zigodattili ossia passeri a piedi scansori . it . de Luca . Serafino . Müller . D. . L'Ateneo Italiano; raccolta di documenti e memorie relative al progresso delle scienze fisiche . 2 . Parigi [Paris] . Victor Masson . 116–129 [123] . https://books.google.com/books?id=BR1pAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA123 .
  6. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2023 . Woodpeckers . IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 18 February 2023 .
  7. Winkler . H. . Christie . D.A. . 2021 . Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis), version 1.1 . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Birds of the World . Ithaca, NY, USA . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 10.2173/bow.bncwoo2.01.1 .
  8. Robson, Craig, and Richard Allen. New Holland field guide to the birds of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers, 2005.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sunda pygmy woodpecker".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.