Picumnus (bird)

Picumnus is a large genus of piculets. With a total length of 8–10 cm (3–4 in), they are among the smallest birds in the woodpecker family. All species are found in the Neotropics except the speckled piculet (Picumnus innominatus) that has a wide distribution in China, India and Southeast Asia.

Species limits in this genus are doubtful, and the rate of interbreeding is "inordinately high" (Remsen et al. 2007). As defined by Winkler and Christie (2002), it contains the 27 species listed below, all from the Neotropics except the speckled piculet, which is Asian (and sometimes placed in a monotypic genus, Vivia).

Their upperparts are brownish, greyish or olive, in some species with darker barring or white or yellowish spotting on the mantle. The underparts vary greatly among the species, ranging from all rich brown in the chestnut piculet, to whitish in the plain-breasted piculet, white with dark bars in the white-barred piculet, and pale yellowish with dark bars on the chest and dark spots and streaks on the belly in the bar-breasted piculet. They have black crowns with red, orange, or yellow marks in the male and white dots in the female, except that the male speckled piculet has brown crown marks and the female lacks white dots. Most have rather short black tails with white stripes down the edges and the center (Blume and Winkler 2003). In two species, the rufous-breasted and the chestnut piculets, the white is largely replaced by rufous.

While the individual species often are habitat specialists (as evident by a number of highly restricted species such as the rusty-necked and ochraceous piculets), members of this genus range from dry Caatinga woodland to humid Amazonian and Atlantic Forest. They are generally found in pairs or small groups. The Neotropical species fall into two broad song groups, with the first having a song consisting of a long trill, and the second a song consisting of series of two or more descending notes.

Taxonomy

The genus Picumnus was introduced in 1825 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. He listed three species in the genus but did not specify the type. In 1840 George Gray designated the type as Picumnus minutissimus Temminck, 1825. This is now preoccupied in Picumnus by Picus minutissimus Pallas, 1782. The genus name was coined by Temminck from the French piculet for a little woodpecker.

Species

The genus contains the following 25 species:

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
File:Picumnus innominatus 427733886.jpg	Speckled piculet	Picumnus innominatus	Himalayas, China, Indochina and montane India and Sumatra
File:Picumnus aurifrons - Bar-breasted Piculet (male), Careiro da Várzea Amazonas, Brazil.jpg	Bar-breasted piculet	Picumnus aurifrons	southern Amazonia
-	Lafresnaye's piculet	Picumnus lafresnayi	mid/western Amazonia
-	Orinoco piculet	Picumnus pumilus	northern Amazonia
File:Picumnus exilis buffonii - Golden-spangled Piculet (female); Pte. Figueiredo, Amazonas, Brazil.jpg	Golden-spangled piculet	Picumnus exilis	northern Amazonia, Guiana Shield, Baía de São Marcos and Atlantic Forest
File:Ecuadorian Piculet - Ecuador S4E9348 (cropped).jpg	Ecuadorian piculet	Picumnus sclateri	western Ecuador
File:Scaled Piculet - Telegrafista Escamado (Picumnus squamulatus rohli) (♀) (13984956814).jpg	Scaled piculet	Picumnus squamulatus	Colombia and Venezuela
File:Picumnus spilogaster 22730308.jpg	White-bellied piculet	Picumnus spilogaster	Orinoco, Branco, mouth of the Mazaruni River and Pará mangroves
File:Picumnus minutissimus 2604872.jpg	Arrowhead piculet	Picumnus minutissimus	northern Suriname
File:Spotted Piculet Picumnus pygmaeus.jpg	Spotted piculet	Picumnus pygmaeus	northeastern Brazil
File:Picumnus steindachneri 111900368.jpg	Speckle-chested piculet	Picumnus steindachneri	northern Peru : Huallaga and Utcubamba river valleys
File:Picumnus varzeae - Varzea Piculet (male) Itacoatiara, Amazonas, Brazil.jpg	Varzea piculet	Picumnus varzeae	Várzea forest of lower Amazon River
File:PICA-PAU-ANÃO-DE-COLEIRA (Picumnus cirratus ).jpg	White-barred piculet	Picumnus cirratus	Gran Chaco to eastern Brazil ; also northeastern Amazonia
File:Picumnus dorbignyanus 226309966.jpg	Ocellated piculet	Picumnus dorbignyianus	central Andes (eastern slope)
File:Pica Pau anão barrado 8N5 1824.jpg	Ochre-collared piculet	Picumnus temminckii	southern Brazil
File:Picumnus albosquamatus - White-wedged Piculet (male).JPG	White-wedged piculet	Picumnus albosquamatus	central Brazil and northeastern Bolivia
File:Picumnus fuscus - Rusty-necked Piculet (female), Pimenteiras d'Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil.jpg	Rusty-necked piculet	Picumnus fuscus	southern Rondonia
-	Rufous-breasted piculet	Picumnus rufiventris	western Amazonia
File:Picumnus limae - Ochraceus piculet (male).jpg	Ochraceous piculet	Picumnus limae	northern Ceara and Pernambuco
File:Picumnus nebulosus - Mottled piculet.JPG	Mottled piculet	Picumnus nebulosus	South Region and Uruguay
File:Picumnus castelnau Plain-breasted Piculet (male); Benjamin Constant, Amazonas, Brazil (cropped).jpg	Plain-breasted piculet	Picumnus castelnau	northern Peru : Ucayali and upper Amazon river
File:Picumnus subtilis - Fine-barred Piculet (male); Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil.jpg	Fine-barred piculet	Picumnus subtilis	southern Peru : Ene and Madre de Dios river
File:Picumnus olivaceus (Olivaceous Piculet) (12144677326).jpg	Olivaceous piculet	Picumnus olivaceus	Central America, Colombia and Ecuador
File:Picumnus albosquamatus - White-wedged Piculet (male).JPG	Greyish piculet	Picumnus granadensis	Cauca River valley
-	Chestnut piculet	Picumnus cinnamomeus	northern Colombia and Maracaibo Basin

See also

• Genus Sasia

References

• Peterson, Alan P. (Editor). 1999. Zoological Nomenclature Resource (Zoonomen). Accessed 2007-09-08.
• Remsen, J. V., Jr., C. D. Cadena, A. Jaramillo, M. Nores, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, T. S. Schulenberg, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, and K. J. Zimmer. [Version 2007-10-07.] A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithologists' Union. Accessed 2007-10-07.