Corythornis | |
---|---|
Malachite kingfisher (Corythornis cristatus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Coraciiformes |
Family: | Alcedinidae |
Subfamily: | Alcedininae |
Genus: | Corythornis Kaup, 1848 |
Type species | |
Alcedo nais Kaup, 1848 | |
Species | |
see text |
Phylogeny |
Cladogram based on Andersen et al. (2017) [1] |
Corythornis is a genus of small African river kingfishers.
A molecular phylogenetic study of the alcedinine kingfishers published in 2007 found that the genera as then defined did not form monophyletic groups. The species were subsequently rearranged into four genera, with four species in the resurrected genus Corythornis. [2] The genus had been introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. [3] The type species is the Príncipe kingfisher (Alcedo cristatus nais). [4] Corythornis is the sister group to the genus Ispidina containing two small African kingfishers. [1]
The genus contains the following four species: [5]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Madagascar pygmy kingfisher | Corythornis madagascariensis (Linnaeus, 1766) Two subspecies
| Madagascar | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
White-bellied kingfisher | Corythornis leucogaster (Fraser, 1843) Three subspecies
| Guinea to Mali and Ghana, Nigeria to north west Angola, Bioko Island, east Congo to south Uganda and northwest Zambia | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Malachite kingfisher | Corythornis cristatus (Pallas, 1764) Five subspecies
| Sub-Saharan Africa except for the very arid parts of Somalia, Kenya, Namibia and Botswana. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Malagasy kingfisher | Corythornis vintsioides (Eydoux & Gervais, 1836) Two subspecies
| Madagascar, Mayotte and the Comoros. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
The belted kingfisher is a large, conspicuous water kingfisher, native to North America. All kingfishers are placed in one family, Alcedinidae, and recent research suggests that this should be divided into three subfamilies.
The river kingfishers or pygmy kingfishers, subfamily Alcedininae, are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers. The river kingfishers are widespread through Africa and east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common kingfisher also appearing in Europe and northern Asia. This group includes many kingfishers that actually dive for fish. The origin of the subfamily is thought to have been in Asia.
The water kingfishers or Cerylinae are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers, and are also known as the cerylid kingfishers. All six American species are in this subfamily.
Coraciidae is a family of Old World birds, which are known as rollers because of the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. The family contains 13 species and is divided into two genera. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and bee-eaters, blues and pinkish or cinnamon browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but not the outer one.
The grass warblers are small passerine birds belonging to the genus Locustella. Formerly placed in the paraphyletic "Old World warbler" assemblage, they are now considered the northernmost representatives of a largely Gondwanan family, the Locustellidae.
The malachite kingfisher is a river kingfisher which is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara. It is largely resident except for seasonal climate-related movements.
The American green kingfishers are the kingfisher genus Chloroceryle, which are native to tropical Central and South America, with one species extending north to south Texas.
The giant kingfisher is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert, other than the arid southwest.
Megaceryle is a genus of very large kingfishers. They have a wide distribution in the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The American pygmy kingfisher is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America into every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. It also occurs on Trinidad.
The African pygmy kingfisher is a small insectivorous kingfisher found in the Afrotropics, mostly in woodland habitats.
The crested kingfisher is a very large kingfisher that is native to parts of southern Asia, stretching eastwards from the Indian Subcontinent towards Japan. It forms a species complex with the other three Megaceryle species.
Pelargopsis is a genus of tree kingfishers that are resident in tropical south Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia.
The green-and-rufous kingfisher is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the American tropics from Nicaragua to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.
Lilac kingfishers are kingfishers in the genus Cittura, found in the lowlands of the Indonesia island of Sulawesi and the neighbouring Sangihe and Talaud Islands.
Alcedo is a genus of birds in the kingfisher subfamily Alcedininae. The genus was introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species is the common kingfisher. Alcedo is the Latin for "kingfisher".
The Príncipe kingfisher is a bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to the island of Príncipe off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. The first formal description of the species was by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848 who gave it the binomial name Alcedo nais. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 showed that the Príncipe kingfisher is a subspecies of the malachite kingfisher.
Ceyx is an Old World genus of river kingfishers. These kingfishers are found from South East Asia to the Solomon Islands.
Ispidina is a genus of small insectivorous African river kingfishers.
Taenioptynx is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae, that inhabits Asia.