Cursorius
{{short description|Genus of birds}}
{{automatic taxobox
| image = Cursorius rufus - Etosha 2014.jpg
| image_caption = Burchell's courser (Cursorius rufus)
| taxon = Cursorius
| authority = Latham, 1790
| type_species = Cursorius europaeus{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=60 |title= Glareolidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-26}} = Charadrius cursor
| type_species_authority = Latham, 1790
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
C. cursor
C. somalensis
C. rufus
C. temminckii
C. coromandelicus
}}
Cursorius is a genus of coursers, a group of wading birds. The genus name derive from Latin cursor meaning "runner".
There are five species which breed in Africa and South Asia.
They have long legs, short wings and long pointed bills which curve downwards. Although classed as waders, they inhabit deserts and similar arid regions.
Like the pratincoles, the coursers are found in warmer parts of the Old World. They hunt insects by sight, pursuing them on foot.
Their 2–3 eggs are laid on the ground.
Taxonomy
The genus Cursorius was introduced in 1790 by the English ornithologist John Latham.{{cite book| last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1790 | title=Index Ornithologicus, Sive Systema Ornithologiae: Complectens Avium Divisionem In Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Ipsarumque Varietates | volume=2 | language=Latin | location=London | publisher = Leigh & Sotheby | page=751 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53510176 }} The type species was subsequently designated as the cream-colored courser.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=299 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483112 }} The genus name is derive from Latin cursor meaning "runner", from currere, "to run".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=125 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n125/mode/1up }}
- Cream-colored courser (Cursorius cursor)
- Somali courser (Cursorius somalensis)
- Burchell's courser (Cursorius rufus)
- Temminck's courser (Cursorius temminckii)
- Indian courser (Cursorius coromandelicus)