D. l. leucotos (Bechstein, 1802), the nominate subspecies, widespread across Eurasia from north, central and eastern Europe to northeast Asia, Korea and Sakhalin.
D. l. lilfordi (Sharpe & Dresser, 1871) Pyrenees to Asia Minor, Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
D. l. tangi (Cheng, 1956) Sichuan province, western China.
D. l. subcirris (Stejneger, 1886) Hokkaido, northern Japan.
D. l. stejnegeri (Kuroda, 1921) northern Honshū, Japan.
D. l. namiyei (Stejneger, 1886) south Honshū, Kyushu, Shikoku, Japan
울도큰오색딱따구리 - D. l. takahashii (Kuroda & Mori, 1920) Ullung Island (off eastern Korea).
D. l. owstoni (Ogawa, 1905) Amami-O-Shima Island in the northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
D. l. fohkiensis (Buturlin, 1908) mountains of Fujian province, southeast China.