Coraciiformes

(vertebrate zoology) An order of predominantly tropical and frequently brightly colored birds.

Family: Kingfishers
Family: Todies
Family: Motmots
Family: Bee-Eaters
Family: Rollers
Family: Hoopoes
Family: Woodhoopoes
Family: Hornbills

(Kingfishers, todies, hoopoes, and relatives)

Class: Aves

Order: Coraciiformes

Number of families: 8

Number of genera, species: 49 genera; 211 species

Systematics

The order Coraciiformes includes many species that represent some of the most colorful and unusual bird families in the world. The order is named after the rollers of the family Coraciidae, whose members have the least specialized or most basic design within the order. While each family within the Coraciiformes can be defined rather clearly, relationships between the families (and which families to include in the order) are more difficult to ascertain. This also means that the exact criteria for membership in the order are difficult to define, due to the diversity of form and behavior spread across such variable families. Ten families are usually incorporated into the Coraciiformes and these can be divided into four main groups. This approach will be adopted here; each group is sometimes designated as a sub-order:

1. Kingfishers (family Alcedinidae) and the allied families of todies (family Todidae) and motmots (family Momotidae) in the suborder Alcedines.
2. Bee-eaters (family Meropidae) alone in the suborder Meropes.
3. Rollers (family Coraciidae) alone in the suborder Coracii. The allied families of ground-rollers (family Brachypteraciidae) and the anomalous cuckoo-roller or courol (family Leptosomidae) are commonly included as Coracii in other treatments.
4. Hornbills (family Bucerotidae) and the closely related common hoopoe (family Upupidae) and woodhoopoes (family Phoeniculidae) in the sub-order Bucerotes.

Given the diversity of the order, other arrangements of the Coraciiformes have been proposed. On the one hand, some other families have been proposed for membership to a wider and more inclusive order Coraciiformes, such as the trogons (family Trogonidae), jacamars (family Galbulidae), and puff-birds (family Bucconidae). Of these, the trogons, with their worldwide and tropical distribution, are prime contenders for inclusion; although they differ in the unique heterodactyl arrangement of their toes, they are similar to other Coraciiformes in many other features. On the other hand, several coraciiform families have been elevated to the level of an order, such as the todies, hornbills, and hoopoes, while several subfamilies have been elevated to the level of families, such as the kingfishers, hoopoes, and hornbills. More distant relatives of Coraciiformes have been proposed to occur mainly among the woodpeckers and barbets, and especially the jacamars and puffbirds, of the Piciformes, but also among the trogons of the Trogoniformes, the cuckoos of the Cuculiformes, and the mousebirds of the Coliiformes. The rollers sensu lato have also been proposed as the primitive evolutionary template that gave rise to the sub-oscines, such as broadbills and pittas. All of these orders have been proposed to be precursors to the great avian order of the oscine Passeriformes, a suggestion based in part on the different and possibly relict forms that are now isolated on Madagascar.

Resources

Campbell, B., and E. Lack. A Dictionary of Birds. Calton, United Kingdom: T & AD Poyser, 1985. del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliott, and Jordi Sargatal, eds. "Order Coraciiformes." In Handbook of Birds of the World. Vol. 6, Mousebirds to Hornbills. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 2001.

Fry, C.H., and K. Fry. Kingfishers, Bee-eaters & Rollers. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Kemp, A.C. Birds Families of the World. Hornbills: Bucerotiformes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Sibley, C.G., and J.E. Ahlquist. Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990.

Burton, P.K.J. "Anatomy and Evolution of the Feeding Apparatus in the Avian Order Coraciiformes and Piciformes." Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 47, no. 6 (1984): 1–113.

Johansson, U.S., T.J. Parsons, M. Irestedt, and P.G.P. Ericson. "Clades within the 'Higher Land Birds,' Evaluated by Nuclear DNA Sequences." Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 39 (2001): 37–51.

Coraciiformes Taxon Advisory Group. Web site:

[Article by: Alan C. Kemp, PhD]

A diverse order of land birds that is found mainly in the tropics. The relationships of these families have been disputed, with no resolution; the closest affinities may be with other land birds, such as the Piciformes and Passeriformes. See also Passeriformes; Piciformes.

The Coraciiformes are divided into four suborders and families: Alcedines, including the families Alcedinidae (kingfishers; 91 species), Todidae (todies; 5 species), and Momotidae (motmots; 9 species); Meropes, with the single family Meropidae (bee-eaters; 24 species); Coracii, containing the families Coraciidae (rollers; 11 species), Brachypteraciidae (ground-rollers; 5 species), Leptosomatidae (cuckoo-rollers; 1 species), Upupidae (hoopoes; 1 species), and Phoeniculidae (wood hoopoes; 8 species); and Bucerotes, with the single family Bucerotidae (hornbills; 45 species). Several of these families, such as the different groups of rollers, are sometimes merged into a single family, and several families, such as the kingfishers and hornbills, are divided into subfamilies.

Coraciiform birds are characterized by a syndactyl foot in which the three anterior toes are joined together at the base, although the cuckoo rollers have a zygodactyl foot. Most groups are tropical or warm temperate and are brilliantly colored. Except for bee eaters and wood hoopoes, coraciiforms are generally solitary. Most temperate species are migratory; the tropical ones are permanent residents. Most coraciiforms feed on insects and other animal prey, including fish; hornbills are omnivorous and some feed mainly on fruit. All nest, either solitarily or in colonies in holes burrowed in earthern banks or in tree cavities. See also Aves.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: rollers; kingfishers; hornbills; hoopoes; motmots; bee eaters; todies
  Synonym: order Coraciiformes

Coraciiformes
European Roller Coracias garrulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Coraciiformes Forbes, 1884
Families
Alcedinidae Brachypteraciidae Bucerotidae (disputed) Cerylidae Coraciidae Halcyonidae Meropidae Momotidae Phoeniculidae Todidae Upupidae For prehistoric taxa, see text.

The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes, though in many kingfishers one of these is missing.

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 80 species of kingfishers.

The name Coraciiformes means "Raven-like", which is a misnomer. (Ravens are songbirds) Specifically, it comes from the Latin language "Corax", meaning "Raven" and Latin "Forma", meaning "form", which is a common ending for taxon names. [Terres p 104]

Systematics

This order has been seen to be something of a mixed assortment, and the Coraciiformes may be considered as including only the rollers. All the other families would then be considered to represent lineages of birds distantly related to Coraciiformes. This seems to be oversplitting, as most Coraciiformes indeed form a reasonably robust clade.

Analysis of nDNA c-myc and RAG-1 exon as well as mtDNA myoglobin intron 2 sequence data demonstrates that the Coraciiformes can be divided into a basal group that is not too distantly related to the Piciformes, and a derived suborder containing mainly kingfishers (Johansson & Ericson, 2003). The Cuckoo-roller's true affinities appear to lie elsewhere^{[citation needed]}. The trogons and hornbills are either very basal lineages, or might be considered distinct own orders; the latter are apparently slightly closer to the rollers than the former. These entire group (possibly excluding the Cuckoo-roller) and the Piciformes are closely related to the Passeriformes (Johansson & Ericson 2003; see also Near passerine).

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

Unresolved

• Genus Quasisyndactylus (fossil; Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany) - alcediniform, basal?
• Genus Cryptornis (fossil; Late Eocene of France) - bucerotid? geranopterid?
• Family Primobucconidae (fossil)
• Coraciiformes gen. et spp. indet. PQ 1216, QU 15640 (fossil; Late Eocene of Quercy, France: Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2000)
• Family Bucerotidae (hornbills) - distinct order?

The Leptosomatidae (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. The latter at least indeed seem to belong here.

Basal group

• Family Eocoraciidae (fossil; Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany)
• Family Messelirrisoridae (fossil; Middle Eocene)
• Family Geranopteridae (fossil; Late Eocene of Quercy, France - Early Miocene of Czechia) - includes "Nupharanassa" bohemica
• Family Coraciidae (rollers)
• Family Brachypteraciidae (ground-rollers)
• Family Upupidae (Hoopoe)
• Family Phoeniculidae (woodhoopoes)
• Family Meropidae (bee-eaters)

Suborder Alcedini

• Family Todidae (todies)
• Family Momotidae (motmots)
• Family Alcedinidae (river-kingfishers)
• Family Halcyonidae (tree-kingfishers)
• Family Cerylidae (water- or belted kingfishers)

References

• 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 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 PDF fulltext

• Terres, John K. (1980) The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. ISBN 0-394-46651-9

Birds
Anatomy	Skeleton · Flight · Eggs · Feathers · Plumage
Evolution	Archaeopteryx · Enantiornithes · Hesperornithes · Hybridisation · Late Quaternary prehistoric birds · Fossils · Taxonomy · Extinction
Behaviour	Singing · Intelligence · Migration · Reproduction · Incubation · Brood parasites · Nesting
Bird Orders	Struthioniformes · Tinamiformes · Anseriformes · Galliformes · Gaviiformes · Podicipediformes · Procellariiformes · Sphenisciformes · Pelecaniformes · Ciconiiformes · Phoenicopteriformes · Falconiformes · Gruiformes · Charadriiformes · Pteroclidiformes · Columbiformes · Psittaciformes · Cuculiformes · Strigiformes · Caprimulgiformes · Apodiformes · Coraciiformes · Piciformes · Trogoniformes · Coliiformes · Passeriformes
Bird lists	Familes and orders · Lists by region
Birds and humans	Ringing · Ornithology · Bird collections · Birdwatching · Bird feeding · Conservation · Aviculture
Category · Portal

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)