Coraciiformes
{{Short description|Order of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|50|0|Middle Eocene to present}}
| image = European roller.jpg
| image_caption = European roller
Coracias garrulus
| taxon = Coraciiformes
| authority = Forbes, 1884
| range_map = Kingfisher range.png
| range_map_caption = Global distribution of the kingfisher and allies.
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision =
For prehistoric taxa, see text.
}}
The Coraciiformes {{IPAc-en|k|ɒ|r|ə|ˈ|s|aɪ|.|ᵻ|f|ɔr|m|iː|z}} are a group of usually colourful birds including the kingfishers, the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes (and toes 3 & 4 fused at their base), though in many kingfishers one of these is missing.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} The members of this order are linked by their "slamming" behaviour, thrashing their prey onto surfaces to disarm or incapacitate them.{{cite encyclopedia|url= https://www.britannica.com/animal/coraciiform/Locomotion-and-feeding | title=Coraciiformes|accessdate=13 September 2022|encyclopedia=Britannica}}
In the past, Coraciiformes encompassed all anisodactyl (including syndactyl) members of the Cavitaves. This means that the birds currently classified in Leptosomiformes (cuckoo-roller) and Bucerotiformes (hornbills, hoopoes and allies) were formerly classified in Coraciiformes.{{cite web|url=http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20141217163420/http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/|archive-date=December 17, 2014|title=The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9|last1=Clements|first1=J. F.|first2=T. S.|last2=Schulenberg|first3=M. J.|last3=Iliff|first4=D.|last4=Roberson|first5=T. A.|last5=Fredericks|first6=B. L.|last6=Sullivan|first7=C. L.|last7=Wood|year=2014}}
This is largely an Old World order, with the representation in the New World limited to the dozen or so species of todies and motmots, and a mere handful of the more than a hundred species of kingfishers.
The name Coraciiformes means "raven-like". Specifically, it comes from the Latin language "corax", meaning "raven" and Latin "forma", meaning "form".{{cite book |last=Terres |first=John K. |title=The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds |url=https://archive.org/details/audubonsocietyen00terr/page/104 |date=1980 |publisher=A. A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-46651-9 |page=104 |edition=1st}}
Systematics
The phylogenetic relationships between the six families in the order Coraciiformes is shown below. The cladogram is based on a large study by Richard Prum and colleagues published in 2015.{{ cite journal | last1=Prum | first1=R.O. | author1-link=Richard Prum | last2=Berv | first2=J.S. | last3=Dornburg | first3=A. | last4=Field | first4=D.J. | last5=Townsend | first5=J.P. | last6=Lemmon | first6=E.M. | last7=Lemmon | first7=A.R. | year=2015 | title=A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing | journal=Nature | volume=526 | issue=7574 | pages=569–573 | doi=10.1038/nature15697 | pmid=26444237 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2015Natur.526..569P }} The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).{{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 C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=17 June 2024 }}
{{Clade| style=font-size:90%;line-height:90%
|label1=Coraciiformes
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=Meropidae – bee-eaters (31 species)
|2={{clade
|1=Brachypteraciidae – ground rollers (5 species)
|2=Coraciidae – rollers (13 species)
}}
}}
|2={{clade
|1=Todidae – todies (5 species)
|2={{clade
|1=Momotidae – motmots (14 species)
|2=Alcedinidae – kingfishers (118 species)
}}
}}
}}
}}
Several extinct coraciiform families are only known from Paleogene fossils. They probably belong to the basal group and are sometimes difficult to assign because they were even closer still to the Piciformes (see also Neanis). In addition, there are some prehistoric genera which are likewise difficult to place into a family. At least the Eocoraciidae are very basal, but the Late Eocene (some 35 mya) Geranopteridae form a superfamily Coracioidea with the extant rollers and ground-rollers already (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2000). A few prehistoric taxa of the present-day families have been described; see the family articles for details.
Taxonomic sequence
- File:Protornis glaronensis.JPG, a fossil coraciiform from the Oligocene of Switzerland]]Unresolved
- Genus Quasisyndactylus (fossil; Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany) - alcediniform, basal?
- Genus Cryptornis (fossil; Late Eocene of France) – bucerotid? geranopterid?
- Family Primobucconidae (fossil), including Primobucco and Septencoracias
- Coraciiformes gen. et spp. indet. PQ 1216, QU 15640 (fossil; Late Eocene of Quercy, France: Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2000)
- Genus Protornis (fossil: Oligocene of Switzerland) – basal to motmotids and meropids?
A recent study suggest that the following families may belong to a separate order called Bucerotiformes. The results still in dispute though.{{cite web|url=http://tolweb.org/Bucerotiformes/26427|title=Bucerotiformes|website=tolweb.org|access-date=31 March 2018}}
- Family Bucorvidae (ground hornbills)
- Family Bucerotidae (hornbills)
- Family Upupidae (hoopoe)
- Family Phoeniculidae (woodhoopoes)
The Leptosomidae (cuckoo roller) probably do not belong here. The trogons are sometimes placed here as a family Trogonidae. The Late Eocene Palaeospizidae are sometimes also placed in the Coraciiformes, as are the Early to Middle Eocene Primobucconidae and the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene Sylphornithidae. The Primobucconidae at least indeed seem to belong here.
- Basal group
- Family Eocoraciidae (fossil; Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany)
- Family Geranopteridae (fossil; Late Eocene of Quercy, France – Early Miocene of Czech Republic) - includes "Nupharanassa" bohemica
- Family Coraciidae (rollers)
- Family Brachypteraciidae (ground-rollers)
- Family Meropidae (bee-eaters)
- Suborder Alcedines
- Family Todidae (todies)
- Family Momotidae (motmots)
- Family Alcedinidae (kingfishers)
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
- Johansson, Ulf S. & Ericson, Per G. P. (2003): Molecular support for a sister group relationship between Pici and Galbulae (Piciformes sensu Wetmore 1960). J. Avian Biol. 34(2): 185–197. {{doi|10.1034/j.1600-048X.2003.03103.x}} [http://www.nrm.se/download/18.4e32c81078a8d9249800021325/Johansson%2520&%2520Ericson%2520-%2520Piciformes%5B1%5D.pdf PDF fulltext]
- Mayr, Gerald & Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (2000): Rollers (Aves: Coraciiformes. s.s.) from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Germany) and the Upper Eocene of the Quercy (France). J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 20(3): 533–546. DOI:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0533:RACSSF]2.0.CO;2 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110610114612/http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/forschung/abteilung/terrzool/ornithologie/rollers.pdf PDF fulltext]
- Terres, John K. (1980) The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. {{ISBN|0-394-46651-9}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101123164135/http://www.untamedscience.com/biodiversity/animals/chordates/birds/kingfishers-rollers-hornbills-etc Order Coraciiformes - Biodiversity Overview: Untamed Science]
- [http://tolweb.org/Coraciiformes/56738 Tree of Life: Coraciiformes]
{{Birds}}
{{Cavitaves|C.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q484131}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Extant Eocene first appearances
Category:Eocene taxonomic orders
Category:Oligocene taxonomic orders
Category:Miocene taxonomic orders
Category:Pliocene taxonomic orders