The genus probably evolved a few million years ago, around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary or somewhat earlier. The fossil specimen DMNH 1262 from the Early Pliocene (about five million years ago), found near Ainsworth, Nebraska (USA), is a right ulna which is almost complete, with only the tips damaged. It seems to be either from a basal Colaptes or a genus of Picini (or Malarpicini) closely related to it, and resembles the ulna of forest flickers more than that of the typical flickers, suggesting that it was from a bird not as terrestrial as the modern-day subgenus Colaptes.[2]