Yungipicus


Yungipicus is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae native to Asia. The species in this genus were previously placed in the genus Dendrocopos.

Taxonomy

A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the pied woodpeckers published in 2015 found that the genus Dendrocopos was polyphyletic. In the subsequent rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, seven species were moved to the resurrected genus Yungipicus. The genus had been introduced by the French ornithologist Charles [Lucien Bonaparte] in 1854. The name combines the Ancient Greek iunx meaning wryneck which was used by Carl Linnaeus for his genus Jynx, with the Latin picus meaning "woodpecker". The type species was designated by the English zoologist George [Robert Gray] in 1855 as a subspecies of the brown-capped [pygmy woodpecker], Yungipicus nanus hardwickii. The genus is in the tribe Melanerpini, one of five tribes that make up the woodpecker subfamily Picinae. The genus Yungipicus is sister to the genus Picoides.
The genus includes seven species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Sulawesi pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus temminckiiSulawesi in Indonesia
Brown-capped pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus nanusNepal, India and Sri Lanka.
Grey-capped pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus canicapillusNortheast India, Manchuria, eastern Siberia, and Korea.
Philippine pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus maculatusPhilippines.
Sulu pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus ramsayiPhilippines.
Sunda pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus moluccensisBrunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Japanese pygmy woodpeckerYungipicus kizukiRussia, China, Korea and Japan.