Checkered Woodpecker
Encyclopedia
The Checkered Woodpecker, Veniliornis mixtus, is a woodpecker
(Family
Picidae
) found in eastern South America
.
This bird is about 5½ inches (14 cm) long. This woodpecker is black and white, and the male has a red area on the back of its head.
It is a widespread species and not considered threatened by the IUCN.
Subspecific differences run contrary to Gloger's rule
. V. m. malleator and V. m. berlepschi, which inhabit arid habitat, have darker and more prominent underside patterning, whereas the other two subspecies which are birds of mesic
or riparian woodland are paler overall.
This species was until recently classified in the genus Picoides
. With its sister taxon, the Striped Woodpecker
, it was difficult to place in this genus due to the odd head-pattern and the fine, yet bold body and wing spotting. mtDNA COI
and Cyt b sequence
analyses have shown that their closest relative is rather the White-spotted Woodpecker
, Veniliornis spilogaster which unlike its congeners shares the two "Picoides"' pattern, but is abundistic. This species co-occurs with V. m. cancellatus over much of their range. In an apparent case of character displacement
, the latter is by far the lightest and least-patterned subspecies.
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
(Family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Picidae
Picidae
The woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks are a family, Picidae, of near-passerine birds. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia and New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions...
) found in eastern South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
This bird is about 5½ inches (14 cm) long. This woodpecker is black and white, and the male has a red area on the back of its head.
It is a widespread species and not considered threatened by the IUCN.
Taxonomy
Subspecies:- Veniliornis mixtus cancellatus (WaglerJohann Georg WaglerJohann Georg Wagler was a German herpetologist.Wagler was assistant to Johann Baptist von Spix, and became Director of the Zoological Museum at the University of Munich after Spix's death in 1826...
, 1829) - southern inland of BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, from the Huanchaca range in BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
to the Uruguay RiverUruguay RiverThe Uruguay River is a river in South America. It flows from north to south and makes boundary with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of the Mesopotamia from the other two countries... - Veniliornis mixtus malleator (WetmoreAlexander WetmoreFrank Alexander Wetmore was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist.-Life:Wetmore studied at the University of Kansas...
, 1922) - Gran ChacoGran ChacoThe Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region... - Veniliornis mixtus berlepschi (HellmayrCarl Edward HellmayrCarl Eduard Hellmayr was an Austrian ornithologist.-Life and work:Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not finish his degree...
, 1915) - ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
south of the Gran Chaco to southern Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires ProvinceThe Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880... - Veniliornis mixtus mixtus (Boddaert, 1783) - Paraná RiverParaná RiverThe Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...
to central Buenos Aires Province
Subspecific differences run contrary to Gloger's rule
Gloger's rule
Gloger's Rule is a zoological rule which states that within a species of endotherms, more heavily pigmented forms tend to be found in more humid environments, e.g. near the equator. It was named after the zoologist Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger, who first remarked upon this phenomenon in 1833...
. V. m. malleator and V. m. berlepschi, which inhabit arid habitat, have darker and more prominent underside patterning, whereas the other two subspecies which are birds of mesic
Mesic
Mesic may refer to:* Mesic, North Carolina, a town in the United States* Mesic habitat, a type of habitat...
or riparian woodland are paler overall.
This species was until recently classified in the genus Picoides
Picoides
Picoides is a genus of woodpeckers found primarily in North America. The plumage in most species is predominantly black and white, brown and white in some southern species, with the male often having a red badge. Their bills are straight and chisel-shaped...
. With its sister taxon, the Striped Woodpecker
Striped Woodpecker
The Striped Woodpecker is a woodpecker found in southwestern South America. It occurs northwest- and southwestwards of the range of its sister taxon, the Checkered Woodpecker, in the Cordillera Patagonica and its foothills, and in another population in the Andes of Bolivia and the adjacent...
, it was difficult to place in this genus due to the odd head-pattern and the fine, yet bold body and wing spotting. mtDNA COI
Cytochrome c oxidase
The enzyme cytochrome c oxidase or Complex IV is a large transmembrane protein complex found in bacteria and the mitochondrion.It is the last enzyme in the respiratory electron transport chain of mitochondria located in the mitochondrial membrane...
and Cyt b sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
analyses have shown that their closest relative is rather the White-spotted Woodpecker
White-spotted Woodpecker
The White-spotted Woodpecker is a species of bird in the Picidae family.It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay....
, Veniliornis spilogaster which unlike its congeners shares the two "Picoides"' pattern, but is abundistic. This species co-occurs with V. m. cancellatus over much of their range. In an apparent case of character displacement
Character displacement
Character displacement refers to the phenomenon where differences among similar species whose distributions overlap geographically are accentuated in regions where the species co-occur but are minimized or lost where the species’ distributions do not overlap. This pattern results from evolutionary...
, the latter is by far the lightest and least-patterned subspecies.
External links
- Arthur Grosset's Birds: Checkered Woodpecker - Photos of V. m. cancellatus