African piculet greyish-green or olive-green crown whereas the forehead in the female is the same colour as the crown. The rest of the upper parts are rather dark green tinged with yellow. The wings and tail are brownish-black. The throat and breast are darkish grey and the belly is a slightly paler grey. The beak is black, the eye red and the legs reddish. The juvenile is similar to the adult but has grey or buffy tones mixed into the general hue of the plumage. The habitat of the African piculet is mainly lowland secondary forest. It is an active bird often
Varzea piculet is unlikely to be confused with any other piculet because it is the only species in its range with dark underparts. The varzea piculet is endemic to Brazil in tropical South America where it has a rather limited range. It lives along the Amazon River in a wildlife corridor, in the forest called "várzea forest", a freshwater swamp forest. It ranges from the confluence of the Amazon River with the Rio Negro in a , variable-width corridor downstream for about to the confluence of the Trombetas River from the north. The confluence of the Tapajós River joins here from the