eWestern Birds

The Quarterly Journal of Western Field Ornithologists

Vol. 34, No. 2
June 2003
Western Field Ornithologists


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The Generic Distinction of Pied Woodpeckers
M. Ralph Browning

ABSTRACT: The ten species of New World four-toed woodpeckers (scalaris, nut­­tallii, pubescens, villosus, stricklandi, arizonae, borealis, albolarvatus, lignarius, and mixtus and the two boreal three-toed species (arcticus and tridactylus), currently combined in the genus Picoides, differ, in addition to the number of toes, in modifications of the skull, ribs, the belly of the pubo-ischio-femoralis muscle, head plumage, and behavior. I recommend that the generic name Dryobates be reinstituted for the New World four-toed woodpeckers.

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