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Piculus rubiginosus

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Piciformes
Familia: Picidae
Subfamilia: Picinae
Genus: Piculus
Species: Piculus rubiginosus
Subspecies P. r. aeruginosus - P. r. alleni - P. r. buenavistae - P. r. canipileus - P. r. chrysogaster - P. r. coloratus - P. r. deltanus - P. r. fortirostris - P. r. guianae - P. r. gularis - P. r. meridensis - P. r. nigriceps - P. r. paraquensis - P. r. poliocephalus - P. r. rubiginosus - P. r. rubripileus - P. r. tobagensis - P. r. trinitatis - P. r. tucumanus - P. r. viridissimus - P. r. yucatanensis

Name

Piculus rubiginosus (Swainson, 1820)

Reference

Zoological Illustrations 1 pl.14,text

Vernacular names
English: Golden-olive Woodpecker
Français: Pic or-olive

The Golden-olive Woodpecker, Colaptes rubiginosus, is a resident breeding bird from Mexico south and east to Guyana, northwest Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago. It was formerly placed in the genus Piculus (Benz et al., 2006). The scientific name rubiginosus means "full of rust", describing the color of the bird's wings and back.

Habitat

The habitat of this woodpecker is forests, more open woodland, and cultivation. It is most common in the mountains. Two or three white eggs are laid in a nest hole in a tree and incubated by both sexes. The young are fed by regurgitation.

Description

The Golden-olive Woodpecker is 22 cm long and weighs 68g. Adults are mainly golden olive above with some barring on the tail. The forecrown is grey, and the hindcrown red. The face is yellow-white and the underparts are barred black and yellowish. The bill is black. Adult males have a red moustachial strip which is lacking in the female.

Due to its habitat - mainly montane forest, separated by large rivers - it has evolved into about 20 subspecies. P. r. tobagensis from Tobago is larger and heavier-billed than the Trinidadian P. r. trinitatis. Some of the South American races have only very narrow yellow barring on the underparts, and Andean birds show a pale eyering.

Golden-olive Woodpeckers mainly eat insects, including ants and beetle larvae, with some fruit and berries. The call of this bird is a loud wheep.

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 Evolution 40: 389–399. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021
* BirdLife International (2004). Piculus rubiginosus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (2003): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
* Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5

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Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License