Melanerpes Pulcher Bird

Melanerpes Pulcher Bird

Melanerpes Pulcher Bird

English Name:  Beautiful Woodpecker
Latin Name:  Melanerpes pulcher
Protonym:  Melanerpes pulcher Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 p.330
Taxonomy:  Piciformes / Picidae / Melanerpes
Taxonomy Code:  beawoo2
Type Locality:  Near Bogota, Colombia.
Author:  Sclater, PL
Publish Year:  1870
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELANERPES
(Picidae; Ϯ Red-headed Woodpecker M. erythrocephalus) Gr. μελας melas, μελανος melanos  black; ἑρπης herpēs  creeper  < ἑρπω herpō  to crawl; "1. MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS. (Sw.)  Red-headed Woodpecker.   GENUS, Melanerpes*, SWAINS.   Sub-genus, (Typical form) SWAINS.   ...   This Woodpecker, so well known in the United States for the havoc it commits in the orchards, ranges in summer from the northern shores of Lake Huron to the Gulf of Mexico.   ...   *Th. μελας, niger, et ερπο, repo" (Swainson 1832); "Melanerpes Swainson, Fauna Bor.-Am., 2, 1831 (1832), p. 316. Type, by monotypy, Picus erythrocephalus Linné." (Peters 1948, VI, 157).
Var. Melanoherpes, Malanerpes.
Synon. Asyndesmus, Balanosphyra, Cactocraugus, Centurus, Chryserpes, Colombpicus, Leuconerpes, Leucopicus, Linneopicus, Melampicos, Meropicus, Phymatoblepharus, Trichopicus, Trichopipo, Tripsurus, Zebrapicus.

pulcher
L. pulcher, pulchra  beautiful, handsome, bright, shining.
● ex “Merle à ventre orangé du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 358, and “Oranvert” of de Buffon 1770-1783 (Spreo).