Flameback

Flamebacks / goldenbacks
Common flameback Dinopium javanense
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Subfamily:	Picinae
Genera
Dinopium Rafinesque, 1814 Chrysocolaptes Blyth, 1843

The flamebacks or goldenbacks are large woodpeckers which are resident breeders in tropical southern Asia. They derive their English names from their golden or crimson backs.

However, the two flameback genera Dinopium and Chrysocolaptes are not particularly close relatives. The former are close to the enigmatic Meiglyptes and possibly Hemicircus woodpeckers, and the recently reclassified rufous woodpecker (Micropternus brachyurus). Chrysocolaptes on the other hand appears to be a rather close relative of Campephilus, the genus of the famous ivory-billed woodpecker (C. principalis).^[1]

Tribe Malarpicini

• Genus Dinopium
  • Olive-backed woodpecker, Dinopium rafflesii
  • Himalayan flameback, Dinopium shorii
  • Common flameback, Dinopium javanense
  • Black-rumped flameback, Dinopium benghalense
    • Sri Lanka black-rumped flameback, Dinopium (benghalense) psarodes

Tribe Megapicini

• Genus Chrysocolaptes
  • White-naped woodpecker, Chrysocolaptes festivus
  • Greater flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus
    • Crimson-backed flameback, Chrysocolaptes (lucidus) stricklandi

Footnotes

1. Benz et al. (2006)

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. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 40(2): 389–399. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.021 PDF fulltext