The avian
familyPicidae includes the
woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks. Members of this family
are found worldwide, except for Australia, Madagascar, and
the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or
woodland habitats, although a few species are known to
live in desert areas.
Family Picidae is just one of the eight families in the
order Piciformes. Members of the order Piciformes, such as
the jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans and honeyguides, have traditionally been thought to be very
closely related to the woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks.
Recent molecular studies
has strengthened this view.
There are about over 200 species and about 30 genera in
this family (for the full species list, see
Woodpecker). Many species are threatened or endangered due
to loss of habitat or habitat fragmentation. Two species of
woodpeckers, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the Imperial
Woodpecker, have been considered extinct for
about 30 years (there has been some controversy recently
whether these species still exist).
Species of the family Picidae range in size from 8 cm to
58 cm in length. Most species possess predominantly white,
black and brown feathers, although many piculets show a
certain amount of gray and olive green. In woodpeckers, many
species exhibit patches of red and yellow on their heads and
bellies. Although the genders of a species tend to look
alike, male woodpeckers will have brighter reds and yellows
than the females.
Members of the family Picidae have strong bills for
drilling and drumming on trees and long sticky tongues for
extracting food. Woodpecker bills are typically longer,
sharper and stronger than the bills of piculets and
wrynecks, however their morphology is very similar. Due to
their smaller bill size, many piculets and wrynecks will
forage in decaying wood more often than woodpeckers. The
long sticky tongues, which possess bristles, aid these birds in grabbing and extracting
insects deep within a hole of a tree.
Woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks all possess
zygodactyl feet. Zygodacytl feet consist of four toes,
two facing frontward and two facing back. This type of foot
arrangement is good for grasping the limbs and trunks of
trees. Members of this family can walk vertically up a tree
trunk, which is beneficial for activities such as foraging
for food or nest excavation.
The diet of these birds consists mainly of insects, such
as ants and beetles, nuts, seeds, berries, some fruit and
sap. Species may feed generally on all of these, or may
specialize on one or two.
All members of the family Picidae nest in cavities.
Woodpeckers and piculets will excavate their own nests, but
wrynecks will not. The excavated nest is usually only lined
from the wood chips produced as the hole was made. Many
species of woodpeckers excavate one hole per breeding
season, sometimes after multiple attempts. It takes around a
month to finish the job. Abandoned holes are used by many
other birds and animals, such as flying squirrels.
Members of Picidae are typically monogamous. A pair will
work together to help build the nest, incubate the eggs and
raise their altricial young. However, in most species the male does
most of the nest excavation and takes the night shift while
incubating the eggs. A nest will usually consist of 2-5
round white eggs. Since these birds are cavity nesters their
eggs do not need to be camouflaged and the white color helps
the parents to see them in dim light. The eggs are incubated
for about 11-14 days before the chicks are born. It takes
about 18-30 days before the young are ready to leave the
nest.
Picidae species can either be sedentary or
migratory. Many species are known to stay in the same
area year around while others, such as the
Eurasian Wryneck and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, travel great distances from
their breeding grounds to their wintering ground.
The phylogeny has been updated according to new knowledge
about
convergence patterns and evolutionary history (Benz
et al., 2006; Moore et al., 2006). Most notably,
the relationship of the picine genera has been largely
clarified, and it was determined that the Antillean Piculet
is a surviving offshoot of proto-woodpeckers.
The evolutionary history of this group is not well
documented, but the known fossils allow some preliminary
conclusions: the earliest known modern picids were
piculet-like forms of the Late Oligocene (c. 25 MYA). By
that time, however, the group was already present in the
Americas and Europe, and it is hypothesized that they
actually evolved much earlier, maybe as early as the Early
Eocene (50 MYA). The modern subfamilies appear to be rather
young by comparison; until the mid-Miocene (10-15 MYA), all
picids seem to have been small or mid-sized birds similar to
a mixture between a piculet and a wryneck. An enigmatic form
based on a coracoid found in Pliocene deposits of New
Providence, Bahamas, has been described as Bathoceleus hyphalus
and probably also is a woodpecker (Cracraft & Morony, 1969).
Prehistoric forms of the extant genera are treated in the
corresponding genus articles.
Prehistoric taxa
Basal
Genus Palaeopicus (Late Oligocene of France)
Not assigned to subfamily
Picidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of New
Mexico, USA)
Picidae gen. et sp. indet. (Late Miocene of Gargano
Peninsula, Italy)
The
Eurasian Wryneck ( Jynx torquilla), a
relative of the woodpeckers
A female (left) and male
Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis)
specimen at the Museum Wiesbaden. The largest
woodpecker ever is probably extinct since the
late 20th century
Genus Sapheopipo (Placement in Megapicini
tentative)
Okinawa Woodpecker, Sapheopipo noguchii
References
Benz, Brett W.; Robbins, Mark B. & Peterson,
A. Townsend (2006): Evolutionary history of woodpeckers
and allies (Aves: Picidae): Placing key taxa on the
phylogenetic tree. Molecular Phylogenetics and
Evolution40: 389–399.
DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021
Cracraft, Joel & Morony, John J. Jr.
(1969): A new Pliocene woodpecker, with comments on the
fossil Picidae. American Museum Novitates2400:
1-8.
PDF fulltext
Johansson, U. S. & Ericson, G. P.
(2003): Molecular support for a sister group
relationship between Pici and Galbulae (Piciformes sensu
Wetmore 1960). Journal of Avian Biology34:
185-197.
PDF fulltext
Koenig, W. D. & Haydock, J. (1999):
Oaks, acorns, and the geographical ecology of acorn
woodpeckers.
J. Biogeogr.26(1): 159-165.
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00256.x
(HTML abstract)
Lemaitre, J. & Villard, M. A. (2005):
Foraging patterns of pileated woodpeckers in a managed
Acadian forest: a resource selection function.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research35(10):
2387-2393.
HTML abstract
Michalek, K. G. & Winkler, H. (2001):
Parental care and parentage in monogamous great spotted
woodpeckers (Picoides major) and middles spotted
woodpeckers (Picoides medius). Behaviour138(10): 1259-1285.
DOI:10.1163/15685390152822210
(HTML abstract)
Moore, William S.; Weibel, Amy C. & Agius,
Andrea (2006): Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of the
woodpecker genus Veniliornis (Picidae, Picinae)
and related genera implies convergent evolution of
plumage patterns.
Biol. J. Linn. Soc.87: 611–624.
PDF fulltext
Stark, R. D.; Dodenhoff, D. J. & Johnson, E.
V. (1998): A quantitative analysis of woodpecker
drumming.
Condor100(2): 350-356.
PDF fulltext
Villard, P.; Cuisin, J. & Karasov, W. H.
(2004). How do woodpeckers extract grubs with their
tongues? A study of the Guadeloupe woodpecker (Melanerpes
herminieri) in the French Indies.
Auk121: 509-514.
DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0509:HDWEGW]2.0.CO;2
HTML abstract
Webb, Daniel Matthew & Moore, William
S. (2005): A phylogenetic analysis of woodpeckers and
their allies using 12S, Cyt b, and COI nucleotide
sequences (class Aves; order Piciformes). Molecular
Phylogenetics and Evolution36: 233-248.
PDF fulltext
Wiebe, K.L. & Swift, T. L. (2001):
Clutch size relative to tree cavity size in northern
flickers. Journal of Avian Biology32(2):
167.
DOI:10.1034/j.1600-048X.2001.320210.x
(HTML abstract)
Wiktander, U.; Olsson, O. & Nilsson, S.F.
(2000) Parental care and social mating system in the
lesser spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos minor.
Journal of Avian Biology31(4): 447.
DOI:10.1034/j.1600-048X.2000.310003.x
(HTML abstract)
Yom-Tov, Y. & Ar, A. (1993):
Incubation and fledging durations of woodpeckers.
Condor95(2): 282-287.
PDF fulltext
Recent Hits:
United States
China
Viet nam
Russian Federation
France
Hungary
unknown
Ukraine
Canada
United Kingdom
Germany
Netherlands
Poland
Italy
Taiwan, Province of China
Seychelles
Australia
Romania
Indonesia
India
Thailand
Sweden
Brazil
Japan
South Africa
Lithuania
Argentina
Spain
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Chile
Luxembourg
Turkey
Moldova, Republic of
Korea, Republic of
Belarus
Malaysia
Venezuela
Switzerland
Singapore
Colombia
Hong Kong
Mexico
Mongolia
Czech Republic
Belize
Greece
Honduras
Estonia
Latvia
Bulgaria
