Makira dwarf kingfisher
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = CeyxGentianaSmit.jpg
| image2 = NML-VZ T3959 Ceyx gentiana.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Ceyx
| species = gentianus
| authority = Tristram, 1879
}}
The Makira dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx gentianus) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Makira Island. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
This species was formerly considered one of the 15 recognised subspecies of what was then known as the variable dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx lepidus or Alcedo lepidus).{{cite book | last1=Fry | first1=C. Hilary| last2=Fry | first2=Kathie| last3=Harris | first3=Alan | year=1992 | chapter=Variable Dwarf Kingfisher | title=Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers| publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-0-7136-8028-7 | pages=202–204 }} A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2013 found that most of the insular subspecies had substantially diverged from one another.{{ cite journal | last1=Andersen | first1=M.J. | last2=Oliveros | first2=C.H. | last3=Filardi | first3=C.E. | last4=Moyle | first4=R.G. | year=2013 | title=Phylogeography of the Variable Dwarf-Kingfisher Ceyx lepidus (Aves: Alcedinidae) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences | journal=Auk | volume=130 | issue=1 | pages=118–131 | doi=10.1525/auk.2012.12102 | hdl=1808/13331 | s2cid=55352878 | url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/13331/1/Phylogeography%20of%20the%20Variable%20Dwarf-Kingfisher.pdf | hdl-access=free }} The variable dwarf kingfisher was therefore split and 12 of the subspecies, including the Makira dwarf kingfisher, were promoted to species status. The name of the variable dwarf kingfisher was simultaneously changed to the Moluccan dwarf kingfisher.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers | work=World Bird List Version 7.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=17 May 2017 }}
Taxonomy
File:NML-VZ T3959 Ceyx gentiana.jpg
The holotype of Ceyx gentiana Tristram ([https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8609612 Ibis, 1879, p. 438, pl. 11.]) is held in the vertebrate zoology collection{{Cite web|title=Vertebrate Zoology|url=https://www.gbif.org/grscicoll/collection/225db9c9-16a8-47d4-a1a2-6940bb4a2da5|access-date=2021-08-18|website=www.gbif.org|language=en}} of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number NML-VZ T3959.{{Cite book|last=R. Wagstaffe|url=http://archive.org/details/type-specimens-of-birds-in-the-merseyside-county-museums-wagstaffe|title=Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums (formerly City of Liverpool Museums)|date=1978-12-01}} The specimen was collected in Makira Harbour, San Crisobel (Makira), Solomon Islands, on 27 August 1878 by G. E. Richards. The specimen came to the Liverpool national collection via Henry Baker Tristram's collection which was purchased by the museum in 1896.
References
{{Commons category|Ceyx gentianus}}
{{Wikispecies|Ceyx gentianus}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q21397518}}
Category:Birds described in 1879
Category:Taxa named by Henry Baker Tristram
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