This small woodpecker has white bars across its black back. A Vietnam species account describes it as resident there; another bird reference summarizes it as feeding on invertebrates.
The black upperparts are densely barred with white; the brow and cheeks are white. The underparts are dingy white with short dark breast marks, and the undertail coverts are red. Males have a red crown; females have a black crown.
It is listed as sedentary and feeds on invertebrates, according to traits compiled by Oiseaux.net from Bird et al. 2020 and Tobias et al. 2021.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.