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Picus

File:Grünspecht_Picus_viridis.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ310935· pop 48· linked from 177 articles

genus of birds

OverviewAI-generated

*Picus* is a genus of birds within the family Picidae. It belongs to the order Piciformes, class Aves, phylum Chordata, and kingdom Animalia. The taxon was described by Linnaeus in 1758 and is currently accepted. Its parent taxon is the subfamily Picinae.

Records for this genus are held by institutions including SBMNH, USNM, ROM, YPM, and FMNH. Associated data includes 217 records and 410 media items. Geographic occurrences have been documented in the United States, India, Pakistan, Uganda, and Thailand. The genus has 3,234,554 occurrence records and 144,058 observations. One species within the group is commonly known as the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, iNaturalist, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Picus

GENUS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassAves
  4. OrderPiciformes
  5. FamilyPicidae
Observations144,058
Observations recorded3,234,554

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
217
With media
410
Family
Picidae
Collections
SBMNH, USNM, ROM, YPM, FMNH, CLO
Recorded in
United States, India, Pakistan, Uganda, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Picinae
Image
Grünspecht Picus viridis.jpg
Show 6 more facts
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Picus
taxon name
Picus
topic's main category
Category:Picus (genus)
Commons gallery
Picus
different from
Picus
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The genus name is Latin for "woodpecker". The genus Picus was erected by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

These are large woodpeckers, typically with green upperparts. They are found in forests or more open woodland, and lay their white eggs in a tree hole nest, typically on a bed of wood chips. Picus woodpeckers are primarily insect eaters, with several species specialising in taking ants or termites. Some species will also consume fruit or eggs. Insects are captured by a rapid outward flick of the long tongue and gummed to its tip by sticky saliva. This genus is less completely arboreal than some other woodpecker groups, and its members often feed on the ground, attacking anthills or termitaries.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Picus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (14)