Gabon Woodpecker (Dendropicos gabonensis) [XC855559]
by GO-AWAY-BIRDING with Michael Mills from Belize, Cabinda, Angola (?)
Gabon Woodpecker (Dendropicos gabonensis) [XC622045]
by \u00c9tienne Leroy from Djomo, Bayanga, Sangha-Mbare, Central African Republic (call)
Subspecies
Gabon Woodpecker (Dendropicos gabonensis) and Melancholy Woodpecker (Dendropicos lugubris) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Dendropicos gabonensis following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Forms a superspecies with Melancholy Woodpecker (Dendropicos lugubris) and sometimes treated as conspecific, a view supported by the fact that subspecies reichenowi is somewhat intermediate between that species and nominate gabonensis. Indeed subspecies reichenowi was formerly considered to belong instead to Melancholy Woodpecker (Dendropicos lugubris).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
reichenowi Sjöstedt, 1893 - Southern Nigeria and south-western Cameroon.
gabonensis (Verreaux & Verreaux, 1851) - Southern Cameroon (except south-west) and south-western Central African Republic south to northern Angola (Cabinda), and eastern across northern and central Zaire (east to western slope of Ruwenzoris, south to western Kasai) to extreme western Uganda.