Like the true woodpeckers, piculets have large heads, long tongues which they use to extract their insect prey and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backwards. However, they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing trees, so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather than an upright trunk.
Their bills are shorter and less dagger-like than the true woodpeckers, so they look for insects and grubs mainly in decaying wood. Similarly, they re-use woodpecker holes for nesting, rather than making their own holes. The eggs are white, as with many hole nesters.
Typically these birds have grey or dull green upperparts and dark-streaked white underparts.
Systematics and evolutionedit
Although not well known from fossils, the evolution of piculets is now considered rather straightforward. The disjunct occurrence of the genera, with one African species of the Southeast Asian Sasia and one Southeast Asian species of the American Picumnus is of comparatively recent origin. Molecular dating, calibrated with geographic events in the absence of a good fossil record, points at the Late Miocene, c. 8 MYA, as the point where the two genera divided into their two respective lineages. At that time, there was a notable global cooling period. The molecular distances between piculets and woodpeckers are comparatively small for subfamilies, agreeing with the hypothesis that the split between the three groups of woodpecker-like picids subfamilies occurred only during the Miocene climatic optimum, around 15 MYA. The later radiation of South American piculets is probably due to changes in topology and climate fluctuations during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The genus Verreauxia may be accepted because of pronounced morphological similarities, but the two Picumnus lineages, despite having diverged long ago, are virtually alike except for head coloration.[1]
The Antillean piculet (Nesoctites micromegas) has proven to be a very distinct species evolutionarily between piculets and woodpeckers[2] and thus is nowadays placed in a subfamily of its own.[3]
The arrangement of species in the genera is as follows[4]
^Benz, Brett W.; Robbins, Mark B.; Peterson, A. Townsend (2006). "Evolutionary history of woodpeckers and allies (Aves: Picidae): Placing key taxa on the phylogenetic tree". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40 (2): 389–399. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021. PMID 16635580.
Benz, Brett W.; Robbins, Mark B. & Peterson, A. Townsend (2006) Evolutionary history of woodpeckers and allies (Aves: Picidae): Placing key taxa on the phylogenetic tree. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution40: 389–399. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021 PMID 16635580 (HTML abstract)
Fuchs, J.; Ohlson, J. I.; Ericson, Per G. P. & Pasquet, E. (2006): Molecular phylogeny and biogeographic history of the piculets (Piciformes: Picumninae). Journal of Avian Biology37(5): 487–496. doi:10.1111/j.0908-8857.2006.03768.x (HTML abstract)
External linksedit
Piculet videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
December 04, 2023
piculet, piculets, distinctive, subfamily, picumninae, small, woodpeckers, which, occur, mainly, tropical, south, america, with, just, three, asian, african, species, sochre, collared, piculetscientific, classificationdomain, eukaryotakingdom, animaliaphylum, . The piculets are a distinctive subfamily Picumninae of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America with just three Asian and one African species PiculetsOchre collared piculetScientific classificationDomain EukaryotaKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass AvesOrder PiciformesFamily PicidaeSubfamily PicumninaeGeneraPicumnusVerreauxiaSasiaLike the true woodpeckers piculets have large heads long tongues which they use to extract their insect prey and zygodactyl feet with two toes pointing forward and two backwards However they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing trees so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather than an upright trunk Their bills are shorter and less dagger like than the true woodpeckers so they look for insects and grubs mainly in decaying wood Similarly they re use woodpecker holes for nesting rather than making their own holes The eggs are white as with many hole nesters Typically these birds have grey or dull green upperparts and dark streaked white underparts Systematics and evolution editAlthough not well known from fossils the evolution of piculets is now considered rather straightforward The disjunct occurrence of the genera with one African species of the Southeast Asian Sasia and one Southeast Asian species of the American Picumnus is of comparatively recent origin Molecular dating calibrated with geographic events in the absence of a good fossil record points at the Late Miocene c 8 MYA as the point where the two genera divided into their two respective lineages At that time there was a notable global cooling period The molecular distances between piculets and woodpeckers are comparatively small for subfamilies agreeing with the hypothesis that the split between the three groups of woodpecker like picids subfamilies occurred only during the Miocene climatic optimum around 15 MYA The later radiation of South American piculets is probably due to changes in topology and climate fluctuations during the Pliocene and Pleistocene The genus Verreauxia may be accepted because of pronounced morphological similarities but the two Picumnus lineages despite having diverged long ago are virtually alike except for head coloration 1 The Antillean piculet Nesoctites micromegas has proven to be a very distinct species evolutionarily between piculets and woodpeckers 2 and thus is nowadays placed in a subfamily of its own 3 The arrangement of species in the genera is as follows 4 Genus Picumnus Speckled piculet P innominatus Bar breasted piculet P aurifrons Orinoco piculet P pumilus Lafresnaye s piculet P lafresnayi Golden spangled piculet P exilis Black dotted piculet P nigropunctatus Ecuadorian piculet P sclateri Scaled piculet P squamulatus White bellied piculet P spilogaster Arrowhead piculet P minutissimus Spotted piculet P pygmaeus Speckle chested piculet P steindachneri Varzea piculet P varzeae White barred piculet P cirratus Ocellated piculet P dorbygnianus Ochre collared piculet P temminckii White wedged piculet P albosquamatus Rusty necked piculet P fuscus Rufous breasted piculet P rufiventris Ochraceous piculet P limae Mottled piculet P nebulosus Plain breasted piculet P castelnau Fine barred piculet P subtilis Olivaceous piculet P olivaceus Greyish piculet P granadensis Chestnut piculet P cinnamomeusGenus Sasia Rufous piculet S abnormis White browed piculet S ochraceaGenus Verreauxia African piculet V africanaReferences edit Fuchs et al 2006 Benz et al 2006 Benz Brett W Robbins Mark B Peterson A Townsend 2006 Evolutionary history of woodpeckers and allies Aves Picidae Placing key taxa on the phylogenetic tree Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 2 389 399 doi 10 1016 j ympev 2006 02 021 PMID 16635580 del Hoyo et al 2002 Benz Brett W Robbins Mark B amp Peterson A Townsend 2006 Evolutionary history of woodpeckers and allies Aves Picidae Placing key taxa on the phylogenetic tree Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 389 399 doi 10 1016 j ympev 2006 02 021 PMID 16635580 HTML abstract del Hoyo J Elliott A amp Sargatal J editors 2002 Handbook of Birds of the World Volume 7 Jacamars to Woodpeckers Lynx Edicions Barcelona ISBN 84 87334 22 9 Fuchs J Ohlson J I Ericson Per G P amp Pasquet E 2006 Molecular phylogeny and biogeographic history of the piculets Piciformes Picumninae Journal of Avian Biology 37 5 487 496 doi 10 1111 j 0908 8857 2006 03768 x HTML abstract External links editPiculet videos photos amp sounds on the Internet Bird Collection Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Piculet amp oldid 1186218861, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
