# Melanerpes

Melanerpes is a genus of woodpeckers of the family Picidae found in the Americas. The 23 members of the genus are mostly colourful birds, conspicuously barred in black and white, with some red and yellow.

## Taxonomy

The genus Melanerpes was introduced by the English ornithologist William Swainson in 1832 to accommodate the red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). The generic name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with herpēs meaning "creeper". The genus forms part of the large tribe Melanerpini, which also includes the North American sapsuckers in the genus Sphyrapicus and the monotypic genus Xiphidiopicus containing only the Cuban green woodpecker (Xiphidiopicus percussus).

## Characteristics

Members of Melanerpes are small to medium-sized woodpeckers found exclusively in the New World. Some are West Indian endemics, and include species from Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Guadeloupe; one subspecies, the Grand Bahama West Indian woodpecker (M. superciliaris bahamensis) became extinct in the 1950s. The majority of the species are from Central and South America. Most species are boldly marked in black and white, with some areas of red and yellow. The beaks are long and pointed, and sometimes curved. The sexes differ in many species, both in colour and in size.
Some species such as the acorn woodpecker and the yellow-tufted woodpecker are sociable, foraging in groups, communicating vocally and nesting communally. These have complex breeding systems including some non-breeding adult helpers assisting in rearing the young. Like other woodpeckers, insects form a large part of the diet, being caught on the wing in some species, but fruit is also eaten in large quantities and some species consume sap. They all nest in holes that they excavate in trees, and the red-crowned woodpecker and the Hoffmann's woodpecker are unusual in that they sometimes enter their holes backwards.

## Species

The genus includes 23 species:
| Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
| White woodpecker | Melanerpes candidus | Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. |
| Lewis's woodpecker | Melanerpes lewis | western and central United States |
| Guadeloupe woodpecker | Melanerpes herminieri | Guadeloupe archipelago |
| Puerto Rican woodpecker | Melanerpes portoricensis | Puerto Rico |
| Red-headed woodpecker | Melanerpes erythrocephalus | southern Canada and the east-central United States. |
| Acorn woodpecker | Melanerpes formicivorus | Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia. |
| Yellow-tufted woodpecker | Melanerpes cruentatus | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. |
| Yellow-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes flavifrons | Brazil, Paraguay and far northeastern Argentina. |
| Golden-naped woodpecker | Melanerpes chrysauchen | Costa Rica and western Panama |
| Beautiful woodpecker | Melanerpes pulcher | Colombia. |
| Black-cheeked woodpecker | Melanerpes pucherani | southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador. |
| White-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes cactorum | Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. |
| Hispaniolan woodpecker | Melanerpes striatus | Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) |
| Jamaican woodpecker | Melanerpes radiolatus | Jamaica. |
| Golden-cheeked woodpecker | Melanerpes chrysogenys | Mexico |
| Grey-breasted woodpecker | Melanerpes hypopolius | southwestern Mexico. |
| Yucatan woodpecker | Melanerpes pygmaeus | Belize and Mexico |
| Red-crowned woodpecker | Melanerpes rubricapillus | Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago. |
| Gila woodpecker | Melanerpes uropygialis | southwestern United States and western Mexico. |
| Hoffmann's woodpecker | Melanerpes hoffmannii | southern Honduras south to Costa Rica |
| Golden-fronted woodpecker | Melanerpes aurifrons | Texas and Oklahoma in the United States through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and northern Nicaragua. |
| Red-bellied woodpecker | Melanerpes carolinus | eastern United States |
| West Indian woodpecker | Melanerpes superciliaris | Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. |
* †Melanerpes shawi (extinct: Late Pleistocene)