Woodpecker

Woodpeckers
Male (top) and female (bottom)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Subclass:	Neornithes
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae Vigors, 1825
Subfamilies
Jynginae – wrynecks, Nesoctitinae – Antillean Piculet, Picinae – woodpeckers, Picumninae – typical piculets

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The woodpeckers and its near relatives the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers are the family Picidae. They are near-passerine birds.^[1] Members of the Picidae are found worldwide, except for the parts of old Gondwana which they did not get to: Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and Antarctica. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats.

The Picidae are just one of the eight living families in the order Piciformes. DNA sequence analyses have shown they are a clade.^[2]

There are about 240 species and about 35 genera in this family. Many species are threatened or endangered due to loss of habitat or habitat fragmentation.

1. ↑ 11 families similar to the passerine birds.
2. ↑ 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 Biology. 34(2): 185-197. doi:10.1034/j.1600-048X.2003.03103.x PDF fulltext Archived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine