Piculus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae that are found in Central and South America.
The genus was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix in 1824.[1] The type species was subsequently designated as the golden-green woodpecker (Piculus chrysochloros) by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser in 1923.[2] The generic name is a diminutive of the Latin word Picus meaning "woodpecker".[3]
The genus forms part of the woodpecker subfamily Picinae and has a sister relationship to the genus Dryocopus whose species are found in Eurasia and the Americas. The genus Piculus is a member of the tribe Picini and belongs to a clade that contains five genera: Colaptes, Piculus, Mulleripicus, Dryocopus and Celeus.[4]
The genus contains seven species:[5]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piculus simplex | Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-throated woodpecker. | ||
| Piculus callopterus | Panama. Formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-throated woodpecker. | ||
| Piculus litae | western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador | ||
| Piculus leucolaemus | The Amazon Basin, Brazil, mainly in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia | ||
| Piculus flavigula | Brazil and the entire Amazon Basin; also in the Guianas, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela | ||
| Piculus chrysochloros | The Amazon Basin in the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname | ||
| Piculus aurulentus | Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. | ||
Five other species, formerly placed here, are now in Colaptes.