Coracias

"Galgulus" redirects here. The genus name Galgulus was also invalidly given to a toad bug genus (now Gelastocoris), to the rockfowl (now Picathartes), and to bulbuls (Microscelis).

Coracias
Adult European roller
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Coraciidae
Genus: Coracias
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Coracias garrulus (European roller)
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

9, see text

Synonyms
  • Galgulus Brisson, 1760

Coracias is a genus of the rollers, an Old World family of near passerine birds related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups, blues and browns predominating. The two outer front toes are connected, but not the inner one.

Taxonomy

The genus Coracias was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is from Ancient Greek korakías (κορακίας),[2] derived from korax (κόραξ, ‘raven, crow’).[3] Aristotle described the coracias as a bird as big as a crow with a red beak,[4] which some believe to be the chough.[5] The type species was designated as the European roller (Coracias garrulus) by George Robert Gray in 1855.[6][7]

The phylogenetic relationships among the Coracias species are shown below, from the molecular study by Johansson et al. (2018)[8]

Coracias

Blue-bellied roller – C. cyanogaster

Purple roller – C. naevius

Racket-tailed roller – C. spatulatus

Indian roller – C. benghalensis

Indochinese roller – C. affinis

Purple-winged roller – C. temminckii

Lilac-breasted roller – C. caudatus

Abyssinian roller – C. abyssinicus

European roller – C. garrulus

Species

Nine species are recognized:[9]

Genus Coracias – Linnaeus, 1758 – nine species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Purple roller

Coracias naevius
(Daudin, 1800)

Two subspecies
  • C. n. naevius – Daudin, 1800
  • C. n. mosambicus – Dresser, 1890
sub-Saharan Africa
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Indian roller

Coracias benghalensis
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Two subspecies
  • C. b. benghalensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • C. b. indicus Linnaeus, 1766
Western Asia to Indian Subcontinent
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Indochinese roller

Coracias affinis
Horsfield, 1840 		eastern India to southeast Asia
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Purple-winged roller

Coracias temminckii
(Vieillot, 1819) 		Islands of Sulawesi, Bangka, Lembeh, Manterawu, Muna and Butung
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Racket-tailed roller

Coracias spatulatus
Trimen, 1880 		southern Africa from Angola, south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Tanzania to northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Lilac-breasted roller

Coracias caudatus
Linnaeus, 1766

Two subspecies
 sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Abyssinian roller

Coracias abyssinicus
(Hermann, 1783) 		tropical Africa in a belt south of the Sahara, known as the Sahel
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


European roller

Coracias garrulus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Two subspecies
 Middle East, Central Asia, Mediterranean and eastern Europe.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Blue-bellied roller

Coracias cyanogaster
Cuvier, 1816 		Senegal to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Former species

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

Behaviour and ecology

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.[17] They often perch prominently whilst hunting, like giant shrikes.

References

  1. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 107.
  2. ^ André Jean François Marie Brochant de Villers; Alexandre Brongniart; Pierre Jean François Turpin (1818). Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles (in French). Levrault. p. 349.
  3. ^ Craig, J. (1854). A New Universal, Technological, Etymological, and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language. p. 407.
  4. ^ Camus, A.-G. (1783). Histoire des animaux d'Aristote (in French). Chez la veuve Desaint. p. 225.
  5. ^ Greek Word Study Tool
  6. ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 13.
  7. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 241.
  8. ^ Johansson, U. S.; Irestedt, M.; Qu, Y.; Ericson, P. G. P. (2018). "Phylogenetic relationships of rollers (Coraciidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and fifteen nuclear genes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 126: 17–22. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.030. PMID 29631051. S2CID 5011292.
  9. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Oriolus sagittatus - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
  11. ^ "Oriolus oriolus - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  12. ^ "Oriolus xanthornus - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  13. ^ "Eurystomus glaucurus - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  14. ^ "Eurystomus glaucurus afer - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  15. ^ "Eurystomus orientalis - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  16. ^ "Eurystomus orientalis pacificus - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  17. ^ Fry, C. H.; Fry, K. (30 June 2010). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-1408134573. OCLC 25547477.