Fishing kingfisher

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Fishing kingfisher
Gray fisherman (Ceryle rudis)

Gray fisherman ( Ceryle rudis )

Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Rockers (Coraciiformes)
Family : Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)
Subfamily : Fishing kingfisher
Scientific name
Cerylinae
Reichenbach , 1851

The fishing kingfishers or water kingfishers (Cerylinae) are one of three subfamilies of the kingfishers ; all six American kingfisher species belong to this subfamily.

distribution

The four large "crested kingfishers" ( Megaceryle ) are widespread across Africa, Asia and America. The belt fisherman ( M. alcyon ) is the only species that is widespread across North America , although the red-breasted fisherman ( M. torquata ) also occurs north to Texas and Arizona . The gray fisherman ( Ceryle rudis ), the only species of the genus Ceryle , is widespread across the warm regions of the Old World and reaches Turkey and China in the north . The green fish ( Chloroceryle ) occur in tropical America, a species also to South Texas.

evolution

All species are specialized fish-eaters. Since many members of the other subfamilies also eat fish, it is likely that all fishing kingbirds descended from those fish-eating species with new populations established in the New World . It used to be thought that the entire group unfolded in America, but it does not appear to be the case. The original ancestral species may have developed in Africa - certainly in the Old World . The species of the genus Chloroceryle are evolutionarily youngest.

No more than 5 million years ago - possibly less than 2.9 million years ago - an "old world giant fisherman " became the ancestral species of belt fishermen and red-breasted fishermen ; later another, with the Graufischer related species to the ancestral species of Chloroceryle species, after America was colonized. During the evolutionary history of the fishing kingfishers - taking into account their assumed relationship to one another - it is not completely clear whether they descended from the real kingfishers or the Liesten ("tree kingfishers") , and whether they crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific (although the former is more likely).

Systematics

There are nine species in three genera:

swell

Web links

Commons : Fishing Kingfishers (Cerylinae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files