Paradise kingfisher

The paradise kingfishers (genus Tanysiptera) are a group of tree kingfishers endemic to New Guinea — with the exception of two species also present in the Moluccas and Queensland.

Paradise kingfisher
Brown-headed paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera danae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
Subfamily: Halcyoninae
Genus: Tanysiptera
Vigors, 1825
Type species
Alcedo dea
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

see list

Phylogeny
Tanysiptera
 
 

Buff-breasted paradise kingfisher

 
 

Black-capped paradise kingfisher

 
 
 
 
 

Red-breasted paradise kingfisher

 
 

Brown-headed paradise kingfisher

 
 
 
 
 

Little paradise kingfisher

 
 
 

Common paradise kingfisher

 
 
 

Biak paradise kingfisher

 
 

Numfor paradise kingfisher

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cladogram based on Andersen et al. (2017). The Kofiau paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera ellioti) was not included in the study.[1]

The genus was erected by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825.[2] The type species is the common paradise kingfisher.[3] The name Tanysiptera is from classical Greek tanusipteros meaning "long-feathered".[4] The birds in the genus have distinctive long tail streamers.[5]

Habitat and distribution

The centre of paradise kingfishers is New Guinea: Several species occur on this 786,000 km² large island. In addition, there are several island endemisms that occur on islands of the Moluccas and the Louisiade Archipelago. Most paradise kingfishers are resident birds. The buff-breasted paradise kingfisher, which also occurs in the extreme northeast of Australia, moves to New Guinea in the winter half-year. The common paradise kingfisher has the biggest spread among the paradisiacis birds. It occurs in 15 subspecies on New Guinea and islands of the Moluccas and the Louisiade Archipelago. On New Guinea itself, several subspecies of the common paradise kingfisher live there. The remaining subspecies are limited in their spread to individual islands or island groups. The red-breasted paradise kingfisher and the brown-headed paradise kingfisher only occur on New Guinea. The little paradise kingfisher has its residence on the Aru Islands Regency and in the outermost south of New Guinea. It is assumed that the little paradise kingfisher comes from the common paradise kingfisher and developed on the Aru Islands Regency to an independent species. From this place it settled in New Guinea, where today the distribution area of the two species overlaps. These two species do not produce any natural hybrids.[6] The Kofiau paradise kingfisher is also closely related to the common paradise kingfisher, which only occurs on Kofiau.

Species

There are nine species:[7]

References
  1. Andersen, M.J.; McCullough, J.M.; Mauck III, W.M.; Smith, B.T.; Moyle, R.G. (2017). "A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands". Journal of Biogeography: 1–13. doi:10.1111/jbi.13139.
  2. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 14 (3): 395–517 [433].
  3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 216.
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 379. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Fry, C. Hilary; Fry, Kathie; Harris, Alan (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers. London: Christopher Helm. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7136-8028-7.
  6. "Handbook of the Birds of the World". Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers". World Bird List Version 7.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

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