Buff-necked Woodpecker

Meiglyptes tukki is small and dark brown with pale wing barring and a dirty-cream stripe on the neck. It has a pointed bill which is curved along the culmen. It is slightly heavier than its close relative Meiglyptes tristis and has a significantly longer tail. M. tukki is distinguished from its closest relatives by the lack of a nuchal crest. A 1978 survey of fourteen individuals recorded mean body mass of 53g and a mean wing length of 101mm. The mean bill length, width, and depth noted in the 1978 survey were 22.68mm, 8.66mm, and 7.98mm, respectively.

M. tukki is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. It inhabits primary evergreen and semi-evergreen lowland forests and peat swamp forests.

M. tukki primarily forages by surface gleaning and probing on branches and sapling trunks. It primarily feeds on ants and termites. A 2004 observational study noted that M. tukki primarily forages in the midstory, occupying a distinct niche from the sympatric M. tristis. It favors small perches and frequently feeding on arboreal ant nests, Pairs often forage within a short distance of one another. Individuals have been observed foraging in interspecies flocks. Meiglyptes tukki nests in rotted stumps.

Meiglyptes tukki was first described by the French ornithologist René Primevère Lesson in 1839 as Picus tukki. It has four subspecies: Meiglyptes tukki tukki, Meiglyptes tukki percnerpes, Meiglyptes tukki batu, and Meiglyptes tukki pulonis.