''Colius'' is a
genus of mousebirds in the
family Coliidae. The four species are widely distributed in Africa. Two other African mousebirds are placed in the genus ''
Urocolius''.
The genus ''Colius'' was introduced by the French zoologist
Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the
white-backed mousebird (''Colius colius'') as the
type species.
The genus contains the following four species:
A
fossil species, ''Colius hendeyi'', was described from
Early Pliocene remains found at
Langebaanweg in
South Africa.
Some
Miocene taxa from
France were previously assigned to ''Colius''. Of these, only the
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million y ...
''"Colius" palustris'' might plausibly belong there,
[Mlíkovský (2002)] but it is more often separated in ''Necrornis''. In younger lineages like
Passeriformes, extant genera (e.g. ''
Menura'' and ''
Orthonyx
The logrunners (''Orthonyx'') are a clade of birds which comprises three species of passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Some authorities consider the Australian family Cinclosomatidae to be part of the Orthonychidae. The three sp ...
'') were around by then, though it must be remembered that simply because two taxa are of same
taxonomic rank they do not need to be of the same age. All that can be said is that while it cannot be ruled out that the modern genus ''Colius'' was around in Miocene Europe, it more likely
evolved later, and probably in
sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
.
''"Colius" archiaci'', ''"C." consobrinus'' and ''"C." paludicola'' on the other hand are 3 taxa described from fragmentary remains found at Saint-Gérand-le-Puy. Their
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
history is convoluted, being initially described as
woodpeckers and variously merged and split. Today it is believed that they might all belong to a species in the modern genus ''
Urocolius'', or at least 2 into a prehistoric genus ''
Limnatornis''.
Footnotes
References
* Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): ''Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe''. Ninox Press, Prague.
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!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-627 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 -->
Coliiformes
Bird genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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