This woodpecker is endemic to Puerto Rico. It has a black back, white forehead, and red throat and breast, and searches dead trunks and branches for insects.
It has black upperparts, a white forehead, and a red throat and breast. In males the red extends over the crown, while the red area is shorter in females.
It probes bark and drills into trunks and branches for insects, in forests, coffee plantations, and mangroves.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.