White Woodpecker

SCI Name:  Melanerpes candidus
Protonym:  Picus candidus Buffon'sNaturgesch.Vogel 23 p.191
Taxonomy:  Piciformes / Picidae / Melanerpes
Taxonomy Code:  whiwoo1
Type Locality:  Cayenne; not known to occur at present.
Author:  Otto
Publish Year:  1796
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.

candidum / candidus
L. candidus  brilliant white, glittering white  < candere  to shine (cf. albus  dead white, matt white).
● ex “White Eagle” of du Pratz 1774, and Pennant 1787, and “Louisiane White Eagle” of Latham 1781 (syn. Aquila chrysaetos).