The black-rumped flameback was described and illustrated by two pre-Linnaean English naturalists from a dried specimen that had been brought to London.

[3][4] The black-rumped flameback was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Picus benghalensis.

[5] This woodpecker is now placed in the genus Dinopium that was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1814.

It has a typical woodpecker shape, and the golden yellow wing coverts are distinctive.

The black throat finely marked with white immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region.

Females have a black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest.

A female specimen from Lucknow has been noted to have grown an abnormal downcurved hoopoe-like bill.

[14] This flameback is found mainly on the plains going up to an elevation of about 1200m in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

[15] This species is normally seen in pairs or small parties and sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks.

[19] They adapt well in human-modified habitats making use of artificial constructions[20] fallen fruits[21] and even food scraps.