Rufous Woodpecker

SCI Name:  Micropternus brachyurus
Protonym:  Picus brachyurus Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 26 p.103
Taxonomy:  Piciformes / Picidae / Micropternus
Taxonomy Code:  rufwoo2
Type Locality:  Java.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1818
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MICROPTERNUS
(Picidae; Ϯ Rufous Woodpecker M. brachyurus) Gr. μικρος mikros  small; πτερνη pternē  heel; "Micropternus, nobis.  By the same rule that Brachypternus is recognised apart from Tiga, this must be separated from Meiglyptes; having the inner fourth toe and claw minute. The colouring is also peculiar.  Type P. badius, Raffles, under which, again, two species have been hitherto confounded.  1. P. (M.) badius, Raffles: P. brachyurus, Vieillot" (Blyth 1845).
Synon. Phaiopicos.

brachyurus
Gr. βραχυς brakhus  short; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.

Brachyurus
Gr. βραχυς brakhus  short; ουρα ourα  tail.
• (Conopophagidae; syn. Conopophaga † Black-cheeked Gnateater C. melanops) "Brachyurus THUNBERG, Kongl. Vetenskaps Akad. Handl., 1821, Part 2, p. 371 (types Brachyurus gularis and B. ruber = Conopophaga m. melanops [VIEILLOT])." (Hellmayr, 1924, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. III, 25) (see next sub-entry).  Laurent Raty in litt. considers Hellmayr's statement of multiple types (latterly treated as the male and female of the same species) as invalid.
• (Pittidae; syn. Pitta † Indian Pitta P. brachyura) "Denne fogel finnes tecknad uti Museo Carlsoniano, Tom. 4 och Tab. 84 under namn af Turdus triostegus.  ...  Jag har ansett det kunna få namn af BRACHYURUS och sin plats ibland Passeres, näst efter Turdus.  Character Generis blifver då    Rostrum capite brevius, rectum.  Mandibula superior conico-trigona apice incurvo, longior, intra apicem utrinque excisa; inferior brevior, recta.  Cauda alis (non longior) æqualis, rotundata.  ...  Förutan BRACHYURUS triostegus ifrån Ön Ceilon, har Brasilien i sednare tider skänkt osstvenne andra arter  ...  BRACHYURUS gularis.  B. supra olivaceus pileo rubro; temporibus atris; subtus fuscus gula crissoque albis.   ...   BRACHYURUS ruber.  B. supra fuscus maculis dorsalibus testaceis; subtus ferrugineis." (Thunberg 1821); "Brachyurus Thunberg, 1821, Kongl. Vetenskaps Akad. Handling., II, p. 371.  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1840, List Genera Birds, p. 26), Turdus triostegus Sparrman, 1789 = Corvus brachyurus Linnaeus, 1766." (Laurent Raty in litt.) (JAJ 2020).   
Var. Brachiurus.

SUBSPECIES

Rufous Woodpecker (humei)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus humei
humei
Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912) English civil servant in India 1850-1894, ornithologist, collector, founder of journal ‘Stray Feathers’ (subsp. Aegithina tiphia, syn. Alectoris chukar pallescens, subsp. Artamus leucoryn, syn. Dendrocopos macei, subsp. Micropternus brachyurus, syn. Napothera epilepidota granti, syn. Periparus ater aemodius, Phylloscopus, Stachyris).

Rufous Woodpecker (jerdonii)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus jerdonii
jerdonii
Surgeon-Maj. Thomas Claverhill Jerdon (1811-1872) British Army in India, field ornithologist, collector (subsp. Micropternus brachyurus).

Rufous Woodpecker (phaioceps)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus phaioceps
phaioceps
Gr. φαιος phaios  dusky, brown; L. -ceps  -headed  < caput, capitis  head.

Rufous Woodpecker (squamigularis)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus squamigularis
squamigularis
L. squama  scale; Mod. L. gularis  of the throat, -throated  < L. gula  throat.

Rufous Woodpecker (brachyurus)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus brachyurus
brachyurus
Gr. βραχυς brakhus  short; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.

Rufous Woodpecker (badiosus)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus badiosus
badiosus
Specific name Picus badius Raffles, 1822 (= subsp. Micropternus brachyurus); L. -osus  quality of (cf. Mod. L. badiosus  very brown, deep chestnut-coloured  < L. badius chestnut-coloured, brown) (subsp. Micropternus brachyurus).

Rufous Woodpecker (fokiensis)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus fokiensis
fohkienensis / fohkiensis / fokensis / fokienensis / fokiensis
Fokien Province, China.

Rufous Woodpecker (holroydi)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus holroydi
holroydi
Capt. George Sowley Holroyd (?1842-1870) British Army in India, explorer with Swinhoe in Hainan (subsp. Micropternus brachyurus).

Rufous Woodpecker (annamensis)
SCI Name: Micropternus brachyurus annamensis
annamense / annamensis
Annam Protectorate, French Indochina (= central Vietnam).