Gila Woodpecker

SCI Name:  Melanerpes uropygialis
Protonym:  Centurus uropygialis Proc.Acad.Nat.Sci.Philadelphia 7 p.120
Taxonomy:  Piciformes / Picidae / Melanerpes
Taxonomy Code:  gilwoo
Type Locality:  Bill Williams Fork of Colorado River, New Mexico, i.e. Arizona.
Author:  Baird, SF
Publish Year:  1854
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELANERPES
(Picidae; Ϯ Red-headed Woodpecker M. erythrocephalus) Gr. μελας melas, μελανος melanos  black; ἑρπης herpēs  creeper  < ἑρπω herpō  to crawl; "1. MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS. (Sw.)  Red-headed Woodpecker.   GENUS, Melanerpes*, SWAINS.   Sub-genus, (Typical form) SWAINS.   ...   This Woodpecker, so well known in the United States for the havoc it commits in the orchards, ranges in summer from the northern shores of Lake Huron to the Gulf of Mexico.   ...   *Th. μελας, niger, et ερπο, repo" (Swainson 1832); "Melanerpes Swainson, Fauna Bor.-Am., 2, 1831 (1832), p. 316. Type, by monotypy, Picus erythrocephalus Linné." (Peters 1948, VI, 157).
Var. Melanoherpes, Malanerpes.
Synon. Asyndesmus, Balanosphyra, Cactocraugus, Centurus, Chryserpes, Colombpicus, Leuconerpes, Leucopicus, Linneopicus, Melampicos, Meropicus, Phymatoblepharus, Trichopicus, Trichopipo, Tripsurus, Zebrapicus.

uropygialis / uropygiata / uropygiatus
Med. L. uropygium  rump  < Gr. ουροπυγιον ouropugion  bird’s rump.

SUBSPECIES

Gila Woodpecker (uropygialis)
SCI Name: Melanerpes uropygialis uropygialis
uropygialis / uropygiata / uropygiatus
Med. L. uropygium  rump  < Gr. ουροπυγιον ouropugion  bird’s rump.

Gila Woodpecker (cardonensis)
SCI Name: Melanerpes uropygialis cardonensis
cardonensis
Mexican name cardón thistle, for the giant cactus Pachycereus of Baja California, with ref. to habitat (subsp. Melanerpes uropygialis).

Gila Woodpecker (brewsteri)
SCI Name: Melanerpes uropygialis brewsteri
brewsteri
William Brewster (1851-1919) US ornithologist, collector, field naturalist, founder member of AOU, President of first Audubon Society 1896 (subsp. Egretta thula, subsp. Empidonax traillii, syn. Megascops kennicottii, subsp. Melanerpes uropygialis, subsp. Psittacara holochlorus, subsp. Saltator olivascens, subsp. Setophaga petechia, Siphonorhis, Spinus pinus x Acanthis flammea, subsp. Sula leucogaster, syn. Tympanuchus cupido, subsp. Vireo gilvus).