Coracias

The genus Coracias was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=107 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727012 }} The genus name is from Ancient Greek korakías ({{lang|grc|κορακίας}}),{{cite book|author1=André Jean François Marie Brochant de Villers|author2=Alexandre Brongniart|author3=Pierre Jean François Turpin|title=Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles|language=fr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJI5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA349|year=1818|publisher=Levrault|page=349}} derived from korax ({{lang|grc|κόραξ}}, ‘raven, crow’).{{cite book|last=Craig|first=J. |title=A New Universal, Technological, Etymological, and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vTJAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA407|year=1854|page=407}} Aristotle described the coracias as a bird as big as a crow with a red beak,{{cite book |last=Camus |first=A.-G. |title=Histoire des animaux d'Aristote |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6FDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA225 |year=1783 |publisher=Chez la veuve Desaint |page=225|language=fr}} which some believe to be the chough.[http://nlp.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph.jsp?l=koraki%2Fas&la=greek&can=koraki%2Fas0&prior=koloioi/ Greek Word Study Tool] The type species was designated as the European roller (Coracias garrulus) by George Robert Gray in 1855.{{ cite book | last=Gray | first=George Robert | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1855 | title=Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum | location=London | publisher=British Museum | page=13 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17136633 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=241 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480252 }}

{{Phylogeny/Coracias}}

Nine species are recognized:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 August 2021 }}

{{Species table |genus= Coracias |authority-name= Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |species-count=nine|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Purple roller|binomial=Coracias naevius

|image=File:Coracias naevia -20090426B.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Daudin |authority-year=1800 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= sub-Saharan Africa

|range-image=File:Coracias naevius dist.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

|C. n. naevius – Daudin, 1800

|C. n. mosambicus – Dresser, 1890

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Indian roller |binomial=Coracias benghalensis

|image=File:Indian roller (Coracias benghalensis) Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Western Asia to Indian Subcontinent

|range-image=File:Coracias benghalensis distr.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| C. b. benghalensis {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}}

| C. b. indicus {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}}

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Indochinese roller |binomial=Coracias affinis

|image=File:Coracias affinis - Kaeng Krachan.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Horsfield |authority-year=1840 |authority-not-original=

|range= eastern India to southeast Asia

|range-image=File:Coracias affinis dist.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Purple-winged roller|binomial=Coracias temminckii

|image=File:Coracias temminckii 34568309.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Vieillot|authority-year= 1819 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Islands of Sulawesi, Bangka, Lembeh, Manterawu, Muna and Butung

|range-image=File:Coracias temminckii dist.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Racket-tailed roller |binomial=Coracias spatulatus

|image=File:Coracias spatulata 1zz.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Trimen |authority-year=1880 |authority-not-original=

|range= southern Africa from Angola, south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Tanzania to northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique

|range-image=File:Racket-tailed roller distribution map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Lilac-breasted roller|binomial=Coracias caudatus

|image=File:Lilac breated Roller.JPG|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1766 |authority-not-original=

|range= sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula

|range-image=File:Coracias caudatus dist.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| C. c. caudatus Linnaeus, 1766

| C. c. lorti Shelley, 1885

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Abyssinian roller|binomial=Coracias abyssinicus

|image=File:Abyssinian Roller - Gambia (32495702552a).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Hermann|authority-year=1783 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= tropical Africa in a belt south of the Sahara, known as the Sahel

|range-image=File:Coracias abyssinicus dist.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=European roller |binomial=Coracias garrulus

|image=File:European Roller (Coracias garrulus) (16475688389).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Middle East, Central Asia, Mediterranean and eastern Europe.

|range-image=File:Coracias garrulus distr new03.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| C. g. garrulus - Linnaeus, 1758

| C. g. semenowi - Loudon & Tschusi, 1902

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Blue-bellied roller|binomial=Coracias cyanogaster

|image=File:Blue-bellied Roller RWD5.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Cuvier |authority-year=1816 |authority-not-original=

|range= Senegal to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo

|range-image=File:Coracias cyanogaster dist.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Coracias:

• Olive-backed oriole (as Coracias sagittata){{Cite web|url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=068516BB33E7967E|title=Oriolus sagittatus - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-02-24}}
• Eurasian golden oriole (as Coracias oriolus){{Cite web|url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=92A772BBB88868CD|title=Oriolus oriolus - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-02-25}}
• Black-hooded oriole (as Coracias xanthornus){{Cite web|url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=E931F073AAC6F085|title=Oriolus xanthornus - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-03-01}}
• Broad-billed roller (as Coracias glaucurus){{Cite web|url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=4F01F4165EC3954E|title=Eurystomus glaucurus - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-03-06}}
• Broad-billed roller (afer) (as Coracias afra){{Cite web|url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=64D12C99&sec=summary&ssver=1|title=Eurystomus glaucurus afer - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-03-06}}
• Oriental dollarbird (as Coracias orientalis){{Cite web|url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=924BAB9CF551E030|title=Eurystomus orientalis - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-03-06}}
• Australian roller (as Coracias pacifica){{Cite web|url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=8CABFF8B&sec=summary&ssver=1|title=Eurystomus orientalis pacificus - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=2017-03-06}}

Coracias rollers are watch-and wait hunters. They sit in a tree or on a post before descending on their prey and carrying it back in the beak to a perch before dismembering it. A wide range of terrestrial invertebrates, and small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards rodents and young birds, are taken. Their prey includes items avoided by many other birds, such as hairy caterpillars, insects with warning colouration and snakes.{{cite book|author1=Fry, C. H.|author2=Fry, K.|title= Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hFSdA6xYqRMC&pg=PA15|date= 30 June 2010|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn= 978-1408134573|pages =15–16|oclc= 25547477}} They often perch prominently whilst hunting, like giant shrikes.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/eurrol1/cur/introduction Roller videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Cavitaves|K.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q44617}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Coraciidae

Category:Bird genera

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus