Speckled piculet

Speckled piculet
Speckled piculet in Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Genus:	Picumnus
Species:	P. innominatus
Binomial name
Picumnus innominatus Burton, 1836

The speckled piculet (Picumnus innominatus) is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Indian, China and Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

The speckled piculet was formally described in 1836 by the English zoologist Edward Burton under the current binomial name Picumnus innominatus from a specimen collected in the "Himalayas". The locality is taken to be the state of Sikkim in northeast India.^[2][3] The specific epithet innominatus is Latin meaning "unnamed".^[4]

Three subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• P. i. innominatus Burton, 1836 – northeast Afghanistan, north Pakistan, Kashmir to southeast Tibet, Nepal and northeast India
• P. i. malayorum Hartert, EJO, 1912 – south, east India to south China, Indochina, Sumatra and Borneo
• P. i. chinensis (Hargitt, 1881) – central, east, south China

Description

The male and female birds look alike. They have olive-green backs, with two white stripes on the side of their heads. The male bird has orange and brown on the forecrown. They have a creamy-white coloring below, with black spots. There is a dark green band near the eyes.^[6]

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. In India, it is found in the Himalayan foothills, up to an altitude of about 2500m. It can be found in bamboo jungles.^[6]

Behavior

They usually move about in pairs, on thin branches, and sometimes hang from the branch, upside-down. Their behavior is quite similar to that of woodpeckers.^[6]

Food and feeding

The speckled piculet has a diet consisting of ants and termites.^[6][7]

References

1. BirdLife International (2018). "Picumnus innominatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22680694A1300276662. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
2. Burton, Edward (1836). "Picumnus innominatus". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Part 3 (34): 154.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 97.
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
6. Grewal, Bikram (2000). Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. India: Local Colour Limited. p. 14.
7. Faheem, Mahmood Syed. "Speckled piculet". Retrieved 2022-03-19.