Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) in Hyderabad W IMG 8962

A coucal is one of about 30

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s in the

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. All of them belong in the subfamily Centropodinae and the genus ''Centropus''. Unlike many

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

cuckoos, coucals are not

brood parasite Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

s, though they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are (to varying degrees) sex-role reversed, so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care. At least one coucal species, the

black coucal The black coucal (''Centropus grillii'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution in Africa south of the Sahara. Description The male black coucal is in length while the female is , otherwise they are similar i ...

, is

polyandrous Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" ...

. Some species (''Centropus phasianinus'') have the male investing more in incubation and parental care.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Centropus'' was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist

Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (19 November 1775 – 10 May 1813) was a German entomologist and zoologist. Illiger was the son of a merchant in Braunschweig. He studied under the entomologist Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig, Johann Hellwig, and late ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

was subsequently designated as the

Senegal coucal The Senegal coucal (''Centropus senegalensis'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the hoatzin. It is a medium-sized member of its genus and is found in lightly-wooded c ...

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother o ...

in 1840. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

''kentron'' meaning "spur" or "spike" with ''pous'' meaning "foot".

Description

Many coucals have a long claw on their hind toe (hallux). The feet have minute spurs and this is responsible for the German term for coucals ''Sporenkuckucke''. The common name is perhaps derived from the French ''coucou'' and ''alouette'' (for the long lark like claw). (Cuvier, in Newton 1896) The length of the claw can be about 68-76% of the tarsus length in the African black coucal ''C. grillii'' and lesser coucal ''C. bengalensis''. Only the short-toed coucal ''C. rectunguis'' is an exception with the hallux claw of only 23% of the tarsus length. Thread like feather structures (elongated sheaths of the growing feathers that are sometimes termed trichoptiles) are found on the head and neck of hatchlings and can be as long as 20mm. Nestlings can look spiny. Many are opportunistic predators, ''Centropus phasianus'' is known to attack birds caught in mist nets while white-browed coucals ''Centropus superciliosus'' are attracted to smoke from grass fires where they forage for insects and small mammals escaping from the fire. Coucals generally make nests inside dense vegetation and they usually have the top covered but some species have the top open. Pheasant coucal ''Centropus phasianinus'', greater coucal ''C. sinensis'' and Madagascar coucal ''C. toulou'' sometimes build an open nest while some species always build open nests (the bay coucal ''C. celebensis'') Some coucal species have been seen to fly while carrying their young.

Species

The genus contains 29 species: *

Buff-headed coucal The buff-headed coucal (''Centropus milo'') is a species of coucal. These are often placed in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) but seem to warrant recognition as a distinct family. ''C. milo'' is a common endemic of the central islands of the Solo ...

, ''Centropus milo'' *

White-necked coucal The white-necked coucal or pied coucal (''Centropus ateralbus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to the Bismarck Archipelago. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtr ...

or pied coucal, ''Centropus ateralbus'' *

Ivory-billed coucal The ivory-billed coucal or greater black coucal (''Centropus menbeki'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in the Aru Islands and New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropica ...

or greater black coucal, ''Centropus menbeki'' * Biak coucal, ''Centropus chalybeus'' *

Rufous coucal The rufous coucal (''Centropus unirufus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Luzon and proximate islands in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. It is threatened by ha ...

, ''Centropus unirufus'' *

Green-billed coucal The green-billed coucal (''Centropus chlororhynchos'') is a member of the Cuculidae, cuckoos. It is Endemism in birds, endemic to Sri Lanka's wet zone and listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as the small population dec ...

, ''Centropus chlororhynchos'' *

Black-faced coucal The black-faced coucal (''Centropus melanops'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf fo ...

, ''Centropus melanops'' *

Black-hooded coucal The black-hooded coucal (''Centropus steerii'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Mindoro in the Philippines and is one of the most endangered birds in the country. It is threatened by habitat loss and trapping. ...

, ''Centropus steerii'' *

Short-toed coucal The short-toed coucal (''Centropus rectunguis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tr ...

, ''Centropus rectunguis'' *

Bay coucal The bay coucal (''Centropus celebensis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSM ...

, ''Centropus celebensis'' *

Gabon coucal The Gabon coucal (''Centropus anselli'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is mainly found in Gabon but also occurs in neighboring areas of Cameroon, Angola, the Central African Republic, the western Congo Basin and Equatorial ...

, ''Centropus anselli'' *

Black-throated coucal The black-throated coucal (''Centropus leucogaster'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in West Africa in dense second growth along forest edge and grassy swamps. The subspecies found in northern and central Zaire is so ...

, ''Centropus leucogaster'' *

, ''Centropus senegalensis'' *

Blue-headed coucal The blue-headed coucal (''Centropus monachus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is native to tropical central Africa where its typical habitat is swamps, river banks, forest edges and generally wet locations. It is a common bir ...

, ''Centropus monachus'' *

Coppery-tailed coucal The coppery-tailed coucal (''Centropus cupreicaudus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It was first described ...

, ''Centropus cupreicaudus'' *

White-browed coucal The white-browed coucal or lark-heeled cuckoo (''Centropus superciliosus''), is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It inhabits areas with thick cover afforded by rank undergrowth and scrub, including i ...

, ''Centropus superciliosus'' * Burchell's coucal, ''Centropus burchelli'' * Sunda coucal, ''Centropus nigrorufus'' *

Greater coucal The greater coucal or crow pheasant (''Centropus sinensis''), is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is divided into several subspec ...

, ''Centropus sinensis'' *

Malagasy coucal The Malagasy coucal or Madagascar coucal (''Centropus toulou'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Madagascar and in the Seychelles, where it occurs on Aldabra and was formerly present on Assumption Island and Cosmol ...

or Madagascar coucal, ''Centropus toulou'' * Goliath coucal, ''Centropus goliath'' *

Black coucal The black coucal (''Centropus grillii'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution in Africa south of the Sahara. Description The male black coucal is in length while the female is , otherwise they are similar i ...

, ''Centropus grillii'' * Philippine coucal, ''Centropus viridis'' *

Lesser coucal The lesser coucal (''Centropus bengalensis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution range that overlaps with several other similar species. The habitat in which it is found is often marshy land with grass and ...

, ''Centropus bengalensis'' *

Violaceous coucal The violaceous coucal or violet coucal (''Centropus violaceus'') is a cuckoo species in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to the Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea). Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Du ...

, ''Centropus violaceus'' * Black-billed coucal or lesser black coucal, ''Centropus bernsteini'' *

Kai coucal The Kai coucal (''Centropus spilopterus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to the Kai Islands of Indonesia. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the pheasant coucal (''C. phasianus''). References Kai coucal ...

, ''Centropis spilopterus'' *

Pheasant coucal The pheasant coucal (''Centropus phasianinus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Timor and New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical man ...

, ''Centropus phasianinus'' * Andaman coucal or brown coucal, ''Centropus andamanensis'' A fossil species, ''

Centropus colossus '' Centropus colossus '' is an extinct species of coucal from the Late Pleistocene of Australia. It was described from submerged subfossil material (a slightly damaged left humerus) collected in 1979 from the Fossil Cave in the south-east of So ...

,'' is known from the Quaternary-aged

Fossil Cave Fossil Cave (5L81), formerly known as The Green Waterhole, is a cave in the Limestone Coast region of south-eastern South Australia. It is located in the gazetted locality of Tantanoola about north-west of the city of Mount Gambier, only a ...

Tantanoola, South Australia Tantanoola is a town in regional South Australia. The name is derived from the aboriginal word ''tentunola'', which means ''boxwood / brushwood hill or camp''. ''Tantanoola'' was originally named 'Lucieton' by William Jervois, Governor Jervois a ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q657775 *