Coua

Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar.

Couas
Coquerel's coua (Coua coquereli)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Cuculiformes
Family:	Cuculidae
Genus:	Coua Schinz, 1821
Species
See text
range of genus

Reminiscent of African turacos when walking along tree branches, they likewise feature brightly coloured bare skin around the eyes. Some resemble coucals in their habit of clambering through plant tangles while foraging, while the arboreal species move between tree canopies with gliding flight. Four species occur (red) in rainforests while the remaining six are found in the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar.

They have large feet, with a reversible third toe like all cuckoos. Their long tibia suggest a relationship with the Carpococcyx ground-cuckoos of Asia, a genus with similar nestlings. Consequently, they are sometimes united in the subfamily Couinae.[1] Couas build their own nests and lay white eggs. Couas' calls are short series of evenly spaced notes, which are sometimes answered by other individuals.

Taxonomy

The genus Coua was erected by the Swiss naturalist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz in 1821 with the giant coua (Coua gigas) as the type species.[2][3] The name is from koa, the Malagasy word for the couas.[4]

Species

There are nine extant species placed in the genus:[5]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Coua cursor	Running coua	Madagascar.
	Coua gigas	Giant coua	western and southern Madagascar
	Coua coquereli	Coquerel's coua	Madagascar.
	Coua serriana	Red-breasted coua	Madagascar.
	Coua reynaudii	Red-fronted coua	Madagascar.
	Coua ruficeps	Red-capped coua	Madagascar.
	Coua cristata	Crested coua	Madagascar.
	Coua verreauxi	Verreaux's coua	Madagascar
	Coua caerulea	Blue coua	Madagascar.

Fossils and Extinct species

• Ancient coua, Coua primaeva – prehistoric
• Bertha's coua, Coua berthae – only known from Holocene fossil remains[6]
• Delalande's coua, or the snail-eating coua Coua delalandei – extinct (late 19th century)

References

1. Payne, Robert B., and Karen Klitz (1991). The Cuckoos. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-19-850213-3.
2. Cuvier, Georges; Schinz, Heinrich Rudolf (1821). Das Thierreich, eingetheilt nach dem Bau der Thiere als Grundlage ihrer Naturgeschichte und der vergleichenden Anatomie (in German). 1. Stuttgart und Tübingen: J.G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. p. 661.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 64.
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
6. Goodman & Ravoavy; Smithsonian Institution (1993). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 106. Smithsonian Libraries. [Washington : Biological Society of Washington]. pp. 26–33.

• Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands, Sinclair and Langrand, 1998. ISBN 1-86872-035-7

External links

• Birds of Madagascar, including Couas