The blue-banded kingfisher (''Alcedo euryzona''), is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

in the subfamily

Alcedininae The river kingfishers or pygmy kingfishers, subfamily Alcedininae, are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers. The river kingfishers are widespread through Africa and east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common kin ...

. Its natural habitats are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

, subtropical or tropical

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...

, and rivers. It's a small, rather dark kingfisher. Male is highly distinctive, with a broad blue-green band across a white chest. Female is very different, with an all-orange belly; distinguished from Common Kingfisher by overall duller, darker coloration and the lack of a bright white-and-orange patch behind the eye, its call is piercing similar to the

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

Taxonomy

The first formal description of the blue-banded kingfisher was by the Dutch zoologist

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...

in 1830. In his initial publication the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

was incorrectly printed as ''Alcedo cryzona'' but this was later corrected to ''Alcedo euryzona''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''euryzona'' is from the classical Greek ''eurus'' meaning "broad" and ''zōnē'' meaning "band" or "belt". Two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognised: * ''A. e. peninsulae'' Laubmann, 1941 – south Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, southwestern Thailand and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

* ''A. e. euryzona'' Temminck, 1830 –

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

In a world list of non-

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

species published in 2014, del Hoyo and colleagues promoted ''A. e. peninsulae'' to species status with the vernacular name "Malay blue-banded kingfisher". Clements and the IUCN also split the species.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.

blue-banded kingfisher The blue-banded kingfisher (''Alcedo euryzona''), is a species of kingfisher in the subfamily Alcedininae. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and rivers. It's a small, r ...

Birds of Malesia

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Coraciiformes-stub