Megaceryle | |
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A male belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Coraciiformes |
Family: | Alcedinidae |
Subfamily: | Cerylinae |
Genus: | Megaceryle Kaup, 1848 |
Type species | |
Alcedo guttatus Vigors, 1831 | |
Species | |
M. maxima |
Phylogeny |
Cladogram based on Andersen et al. (2017) [1] |
Megaceryle is a genus of very large kingfishers. They have a wide distribution in the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The genus was erected by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. [2] The type species is a subspecies of the crested kingfisher, Megaceryle lugubris guttulata. [3] Megaceryle is from the Ancient Greek megas, "great", and the existing genus Ceryle . [4]
The genus comprises four species: [5]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
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Crested kingfisher | Megaceryle lugubris (Temminck, 1834) | northern India, Bangladesh, northern Indochina, Southeast Asia, and Japan![]() | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Giant kingfisher | Megaceryle maxima (Pallas, 1769) Two subspecies
| Liberia to northern Angola and western Tanzania, island of Bioko, Senegal, and Gambia to Ethiopia and south to South Africa![]() | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Ringed kingfisher | Megaceryle torquata (Linnaeus, 1766) Three subspecies
| Southeastern most Texas in the United States through Central America to Tierra del Fuego in South America![]() | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Belted kingfisher | Megaceryle alcyon (Linnaeus, 1758) | North America, within Canada, Alaska, and the United States![]() | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
All are specialist fish-eaters with prominent stiff crests on their heads. They have dark grey or bluish-grey upperparts, largely unmarked in the two American species, but heavily spotted with white in the Asian crested kingfisher and the African giant kingfisher. The underparts may be white or rufous, and all forms have a contrasting breast band except male ringed kingfisher. The underpart pattern is always different for the two sexes of each species.
These birds nest in horizontal tunnels made in a river bank or sand bank. Both parents excavate the tunnel, incubate the eggs, and feed the young.
Megaceryle kingfishers are often seen perched prominently on trees, posts, or other suitable watch-points close to water before plunging in headfirst after their prey, usually fish, crustaceans, or frogs, but sometimes aquatic insects and other suitably sized animals.
The previous view that the Megaceryle kingfishers arose in the New World from a specialist fish-eating alcedinid ancestor that crossed the Bering Strait and gave rise to this genus and the American green kingfishers Chloroceryle, with a large crested species later, in the Pliocene, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to give rise to the giant and crested kingfishers [6] is probably wrong. Rather, it now seems that the genus probably originates in the Old World, possibly Africa, and the ancestor of the belted and ringed kingfishers made the ocean crossing [7]
The Megaceryle kingfishers were formerly placed in Ceryle with the pied kingfisher, but the latter is genetically closer to the American green kingfishers.
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but also can be seen in Europe. They can be found in deep forests near calm ponds and small rivers. The family contains 116 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests.
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.
The pied kingfisher is a species of water kingfisher widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it has five recognised subspecies. Its black and white plumage and crest, as well as its habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish, make it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast, while females have a single broken breast band. They are usually found in pairs or small family groups. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.
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 half-collared kingfisher is a kingfisher in the subfamily Alcedininae that is found in southern and eastern Africa. It feeds almost exclusively on fish and frequents streams, rivers and larger bodies of water with dense shoreline vegetation.
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.
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.
Todiramphus is a genus of kingfishers in the subfamily Halcyoninae that are endemic to the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and many islands in the South Pacific.
The ringed kingfisher is a large, conspicuous, and noisy kingfisher bird commonly found along the lower Rio Grande Valley in southeasternmost Texas in the United States through Central America to Tierra del Fuego in South America.
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.
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 black-backed dwarf kingfisher, also known as the three-toed kingfisher, is a pocket-sized bird in the family Alcedinidae. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the rufous-backed dwarf kingfisher and together the species complex was known by the English name "oriental dwarf kingfisher".
Ispidina is a genus of small insectivorous African river kingfishers.
Corythornis is a genus of small African river kingfishers.