Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) [XC489223]
by id from Kruger Park, Ehlanzeni, Mpumalanga, South Africa (call)
Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) [XC854392]
by Derek Solomon from Mwekera Forestry College, Kitwe, Copperbelt, Zambia (call, song)
Subspecies
Sometimes regarded as forming a superspecies with Abyssinian Woodpecker (Dendropicos abyssinicus).
Subspecies often treated as comprising three geographical groups: north-eastern "hemprichii group", also including massaicus; western and central "lafresnayi group", also including sharpii and lepidus; and southern "fuscescens group", which also contains intermedius, centralis and hartlaubii.
Subspecies intergrade to variable extent, also interbreed, especially in eastern and south. Numerous other described subspecies are all considered insufficiently differentiated to warrant recognition: cosensi, known from single type specimen (Senegal), is merged with lafresnayi, and camerunensis (Cameroon) with sharpii; chyulu (Chyulu Hills, in southern Kenya) is synonymized with hartlaubii; loandae (northern Angola to western Zaire) is synonymized with centralis, as are camacupae (Angolan plateau east to Malawi), stresemanni (northern Namibia) and capriviensis (south-western Zambia to northern Botswana); harei (southern Namibia) and orangensis (Orange River Basin in eastern South Africa) are lumped with nominate; and transvaalensis (southern Zimbabwe and north-eastern Transvaal), noomei (coastal southern Mozambique and north-eastern Natal) and natalensis (lowland eastern Transvaal and Natal) are regarded as synonyms of intermedius.
The following 11 subspecies are recognised:
lafresnayi Malherbe, 1849 - Senegambia east to Nigeria.
sharpii Oustalet, 1879 - Cameroon and Central African Republic east to southern Sudan, south to northern Angola and western Zaire.
lepidus (Cabanis & Heine, 1863) - Eastern Zaire, and highlands of Ethiopia, Uganda, western and central Kenya, Rwanda and north-western Tanzania.
massaicus Neumann, 1900 - Southern Ethiopia at middle elevations, and western Kenya and central Tanzania at lower altitudes.
hemprichii (Ehrenberg, 1833) - Ethiopia (lower elevations), Somalia, and northern and eastern Kenya.
centralis Neumann, 1900 - Eastern Angola east to western Tanzania, south to northern Namibia and Zambia.
hartlaubii Malherbe, 1849 - From Kenya-Tanzania border south to extreme eastern Zambia, Malawi and central Mozambique (R Zambezi).
fuscescens (Vieillot, 1818) - North-central Namibia, Botswana, and most of South Africa east to southern Transvaal and western Natal.
intermedius Roberts, 1924 - Central Mozambique (R Zambezi) south to Transvaal and Natal.
loandae Grant, CHB, 1915 - Angola to western Tanzania, Zambia, northern Namibia, northern Botswana, western Zimbabwe and northern South Africa.
natalensis Roberts, 1924 - Eastern South Africa to central and southern Mozambique (south of the lower Zambezi River).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet