Fine-banded Woodpecker Campethera taeniolaema is split from Tullberg’s Woodpecker C. tullbergi (Clements 2007:249)

Summary: The Fine-banded Woodpecker of East African mountains is restored to species status due to its plumage and genetic distinctness from the Tullberg’s Woodpecker of West African mountains.

Details: Originally described as a separate species, the Campethera taeniolaema group of taxa had been treated as specifically distinct for many years (e.g., Peters 1948) but was lumped by White (1965) and this treatment was widely followed (e.g., Short 1982, Fry et al. 1988), although not by the first few editions of the Clements Checklist. However, the West African montane Campethera tullbergi and the two currently recognized East African taxa of the taeniolaema group are very broadly allopatric and differ dramatically in several morphological characters (as noted in del Hoyo and Collar 2014, who split them). Comparative data are lacking for acoustic characters for these evidently quiet birds, but they are relatively deeply diverged genetically compared with some other congeneric recognized species pairs (Fuchs et al. 2017a), and this in combination with the marked plumage differences has led the WGAC and Clements et al. (2023) to agree they are better treated as separate species.

English names: The English name Fine-banded Woodpecker is appropriate and well-established for C. taeniolaema, leaving Tullberg’s Woodpecker for C. tullbergi.