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Ivory-billed woodpecker
File:Pale-billed woodpecker001.jpg
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Campephilus
G.R. Gray, 1840
Species

See text.

Campephilus is a genus of large American woodpeckers in the family Picidae.

This genus was created by George Robert Gray, who suggested taking Campephilus principalis as the type for the genus. The name Campephilus means "lover of grubs" - an allusion to the diet of these birds, many of which feed on the larvae of wood-boring beetles. Contrary to long-held opinion, their closest relatives are not the large black Dryocopus woodpeckers: instead, they are related to the Chrysocolaptes flamebacks from Southeast Asia (Benz et al., 2006).

The English names ivory-billed woodpecker or ivorybill are sometimes used to refer to members of this genus, though more these are used specifically for Campephilus principalis.

Species[]

A fossil ivorybill species, Campephilus dalquesti, was described from bones found in Late Pleistocene deposits of Scurry County.

References[]

  • 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: 389–399. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021

External links[]


Eurasian Spoonbill This article is part of Project Bird Genera, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each genus, including made-up genera.
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