The ground rollers are a small family of

non-migratory Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

near-passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

birds restricted to Madagascar. They are related to the kingfishers, bee-eaters and

roller Roller may refer to: Birds *Roller, a bird of the family Coraciidae * Roller (pigeon), a domesticated breed or variety of pigeon Devices * Roller (agricultural tool), a non-powered tool for flattening ground * Road roller, a vehicle for compa ...

s. They most resemble the latter group, and are sometimes considered a sub-family of the true rollers.

Description

Ground rollers share the generally crow-like size and build of the true rollers, ranging from in length, and also hunt

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s and large insects. They are more terrestrial than Coracidae species, and this is reflected in their longer legs and shorter, more rounded wings. They lack the highly colourful appearance of the true rollers, and are duller in appearance, with striped or flecked

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. They are much more elusive and shy than their relatives, and are normally difficult to find in the Malagasy forests. Often the hooting breeding call is all that betrays their presence. These birds nest as solitary pairs in holes in the ground which they excavate themselves, unlike the true rollers, which rarely nest in ground holes and even then do not dig their own nests.

Systematics

mtDNA analyses confirmed the systematics of this group but indicated that merging ''Geobiastes'' into ''Brachypteracias'', as was usually done since the 1960s, should be reversed at least until a more comprehensive review (e.g. supported by fossils) is possible (Kirchman ''et al.'', 2001). Also, 2000-year-old subfossil remains of ground rollers are known from the Holocene of Ampoza (Goodman, 2000); Eocene remains from Europe at first tentatively assigned to this family were later recognized as quite distinct (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2000). Presently, there is no indication that ground rollers ever occurred anywhere outside Madagascar (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré, 2001).

Species

There are six known species in four known genera in the family Brachypteraciidae:

References

*Kirchman, Jeremy J.; Hackett, Shannon J.; Goodman, Steven M. & Bates, John M. (2001): Phylogeny and systematics of ground rollers (Brachypteraciidae) of Madagascar, ''

Auk An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...

'' 118(4): 849–863. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118 849:PASOGR.0.CO;2HTML abstract
*Mayr, Gerald & Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (2000): Rollers (Aves: Coraciiformes. s.s.) from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Germany) and the Upper Eocene of the Quercy (France). '' J. Vertebr. Paleontol.'' 20(3): 533–546. DOI:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020 533:RACSSF.0.CO;2PDF fulltext
*Mayr, Gerald & Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (2003): Phylogeny and fossil record of the Brachypteraciidae: A comment on Kirchman ''et al.'' (2001). ''

'' 120(1): 202–203. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120 202:PAFROT.0.CO;2PDF fulltext
*Goodman, S.M. (2000). ''A description of a new species of Brachypteracias (Family Brachypteraciidae) from the Holocene of Madagascar.'' Ostrich 71 (1 & 2):p 318–322

External links

Ground roller videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Taxonbar, from=Q539783 Coraciiformes Endemic birds of Madagascar Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte