The purple-winged roller (''Coracias temminckii'') is a species of

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 lightweig ...

in the family

Coraciidae Coraciidae is a family of Old World birds, which is known as rollers because of the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appeara ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Sulawesi subregion in Indonesia and can be found on the islands of Sulawesi, Bangka,

Lembeh Lembeh is an island off the north east coast of Sulawesi near the city of Bitung. Lembeh Island is 25 km long and 2 km wide. Lembeh Island is separated from the mainland of Sulawesi by a narrow stretch of water known as the Lembeh Str ...

, Manterawu,

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and Butung. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The purple-winged roller was formally described in 1819 by the French ornithologist

Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collec ...

under the binomial name ''Garrulus temminckii''. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the Dutch ornithologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The type locality is the island of Sulawesi. The purple-winged roller is now one of nine species placed in the genus '' Coracias '' that was introduced by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1758. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the purple-winged roller was most closely related to the

Indochinese roller The Indochinese roller (''Coracias affinis'') or Burmese roller, is a member of the roller bird family. It occurs widely from eastern India to Myanmar and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Taxonomy The Indochine ...

(''Coracias affinis''). Alternate names for the purple-winged roller include the Celebes roller, Sulawesi roller, and Temminck's roller.

Description

The purple-winged roller is in length, similar in size to the Eurasian jay. The cap and upper-tail coverts are bright azure blue, the back is dark-olive, with the rest of the plumage mainly dark blue. The large bill is black. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are similar to the adults but with duller plumage.

References

purple-winged roller Endemic birds of Sulawesi purple-winged roller Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Coraciiformes-stub