Campephilus is a genus of large American woodpeckers in the family Picidae. This genus was created by George Robert Gray, who suggested taking Campephilus principalis as the type for the genus. The name Campephilus means "lover of grubs" - an allusion to the diet of these birds, many of which feed on the larvae of wood-boring beetles. Contrary to long-held opinion, their closest relatives are not the large black Dryocopus woodpeckers: instead, they are related to the Chrysocolaptes flamebacks from Southeast Asia (Benz et al., 2006).