The Black-rumped Flameback, (Dinopium benghalense), also known as the Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker, is a woodpecker which is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of South Asia. It is the only Golden-backed woodpecker with a black throat.

Description Nominate race Kolkata, India.

The Black-rumped Flameback is a large species at 26-29 cm in length. It is a typical woodpecker shape, and has a golden yellow back, with paler wings. The rump and tail are black. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The black throat immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. The head is whitish with a black nape and throat, and there is a greyish eye patch. Unlike Greater Flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus, it has no dark moustache stripe.

The adult male Black-rumped Flameback has a red crown and crest. Females have a black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest. Young birds are like the female, but duller.

Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.

It nests in a tree hole, laying three white eggs.

Distribution and habitat

This flameback is found in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is associated with open forest and cultivation.

Subspecies

The race in northwestern India and Pakistan dilutum has pale yellow upperparts and whiter underparts than the nominate race. Nominate race is found in the Gangetic plains. Southern Peninsular form puncticolle has the throat spotted black and white with the upper parsts brighter golden-yellow. Western Ghats tehminae (Named after the wife of Salim Ali) is more olive above and the wing-covert spots are not distinct. The southern Sri Lankan subspecies D. b. psarodes has a crimson back and all the dark markings are blacker and more extensive. It hybridizes with the northern Sri Lankan race jaffnense which has a shorter beak. The Sri Lankan race psarodes is sometimes considered a distinct species.