Talk:Okinawa Woodpecker

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Is this the same thing as a yanbaru kuina? Turly-burly 18:58, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Genus & Phylum

Consider the following abstract from the article On the phylogenetic position of the Okinawa woodpecker by Hans Winkler, Nobuhiko Kotaka, Anita Gamauf, Franziska Nittinger, and Elisabeth Haring in the Journal of Ornithology:

The Okinawa woodpecker Sapheopipo noguchii is the rarest extant woodpecker species. The monotypic genus Sapheopipo was considered to be a representative of an old lineage of woodpeckers that led to the Eurasian genera Picus and the Blythipicus–Gecinulus species. This view, based on similarities in color patterns, external morphology and foraging behavior, has been adopted in all major accounts of the family. The alternative view, that this woodpecker may be related to the widespread white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos, which evolved distinctive subspecies on other East Asian islands, has not been generally accepted. We analyzed partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene to test these hypotheses. The data suggest that the Okinawa woodpecker is a member of the genus Dendrocopos, with white-backed woodpecker and great spotted woodpecker D. major as close relatives. Color patterns support the genetic results and indicate a closer relationship with the white-backed woodpecker. Consequently, the correct taxonomic designation of the Okinawa woodpecker would be Dendrocopos noguchii (Seebohm in Ibis 5(5):173–182, 1887) in the tribe Campetherini rather than Picini.

Is this to be considered kosher or do we stick with what we've got? Mukkakukaku, 19 April 2007, 23:01 UTC