Necklaced Woodpecker Dryobates pernyii is split from Crimson-breasted (now Crimson-naped) Woodpecker D. cathpharius (Clements 2007:251)

Summary: The former Crimson-breasted Woodpecker of the Himalayas and Chinese mountain ranges is now considered two species. Of these, the Crimson-naped Woodpecker is found mainly in the mountains of South Asia, while the Necklaced Woodpecker is found mostly in China’s mountains.

Details: Dryobates cathpharius and D. pernyii were considered separate species until lumped without rationale by Vaurie (1959). Several plumage differences (as outlined by del Hoyo and Collar 2014, who considered them separate species) between the pernyii and nominate groups exceed those shown between other pied woodpecker species pairs. They appear to be parapatric or nearly so across the Himalayas of northern Myanmar, and ML images suggest that earlier confusion in the literature about head plumage characters (e.g., Vaurie 1959 in his description of ludlowi) may relate to artifacts of specimen preparation, as well as the resemblance of immature male D. cathpharius to adult male D. pernyii. Thus, the WGAC, Gill et al. (2023, IOC v.13.2), and Clements et al. (2023) have adopted the split of the D. pernyii group.

English names: The English names Necklaced Woodpecker for D. pernyii and Crimson-naped Woodpecker for D. cathpharius highlights their most distinctive characteristics, and avoids the confusing previously used names.