Picides is an infraorder of the Piciformes order, that includes woodpeckers and honeyguides. The honeyguides were thought to be closely related to the barbets, as their aerial displays and vocalizations are more similar to each other than either are to woodpeckers. However, phylogenetic analysis has shown that honeyguides and woodpeckers are indeed sister taxa.[1][2]
Systematics[]
Despite having only two families, Picides is an extremely widespread group; the family Picidae is the largest and most widespread in the order Piciformes, containing about 200 species in four subfamilies and being found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica.
^Moyle, R. G. (2004). Phylogenetics of barbets (Aves: Piciformes) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 30(1), 187-200.
This article is part of Project Bird Taxonomy, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every order, family and other taxonomic rank related to birds.
