European green woodpecker though the latter is smaller and more slender with narrower wings and longer tail. The closely related, very similar Levaillant's woodpecker occurs only in north-west Africa. The European green woodpecker is a member of the order Piciformes, the woodpecker family Picidae and the genus Picus. It was first described by Linnaeus in 1758. The scientific name is derived from the Greek "pikos", meaning 'woodpecker', and Latin "viridis", 'green'. There are four subspecies, with subtle and mostly clinal differences between them. In a recent study based on mitochondrial DNA analysis of subspecies by Perktaş, Barrowclough and Groth, it has been proposed
Green-backed woodpecker upper parts, spotted with cream or yellow, and buff or white underparts, boldly spotted with black, and flanks barred with black. The tail is green with individual feathers having brownish shafts. There is a white supercilium, the eye ring is grey, the iris chestnut, the beak grey tipped with black and the legs and feet grey or olive. The juvenile is similar to the female in appearance, although the nape may have little red. The green-backed woodpecker is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana,