Antillean Piculet

About the Antillean Piculet

The Antillean piculet (Nesoctites micromegas) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The Antillean piculet is the only member of genus Nesoctites. The species is evolutionarily distinct from the other piculets, and some taxonomists afford it its own subfamily Nesoctitinae. A fossil feather in amber attributed to the genus has been found in the Dominican Republic, showing that the ancestors of the species have been isolated on Hispaniola for at least 25 million years.

The Antillean piculet has two subspecies, the nominate N. m. micromegas (Sundevall, 1866) and N. m. abbotti (Wetmore, 1928). The Antillean piculet is 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 26 to 33 g (0.92 to 1.2 oz). It is the largest piculet, and is about double the size of the Neotropical piculets of genus Picumnus. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a lemon yellow crown with an orange-red to red patch in the center. Their hindneck is yellowish green and their upperparts dull olive green to yellow-green with a faint... Wikipedia →