The shining-blue kingfisher (''Alcedo quadribrachys'') 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 lightweigh ...

in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in Equatorial Africa. The shining-blue kingfisher was described of by the French ornithologist Charles Lucian Bonaparte in 1850 and given its current

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 ...

''Alcedo quadribrachys''. The name ''Alcedo'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for a "kingfisher". The specific epithet ''quadribrachys'' is from the Latin ''quadri-'' for "four" and ''brachium'' meaning "arms" or in this case "toes". The shining-blue kingfisher is one of seven species in the genus ''Alcedo'' and is most closely related to the

half-collared kingfisher The half-collared kingfisher (''Alcedo semitorquata'') is a kingfisher in the subfamily Alcedininae that is found in southern and eastern Africa. It feeds almost exclusively on fish and frequents streams, rivers and larger bodies of water. The h ...

(''Alcedo semitorquata''). There are two subspecies: * ''A. q. quadribrachys'' Bonaparte, 1850 – Senegal and Gambia to west central Nigeria * ''A. q. guentheri'' Sharpe, 1892 – southern Nigeria to Kenya, northwest Zambia and north Angola AlcedoKeulemans

References

shining-blue kingfisher The shining-blue kingfisher (''Alcedo quadribrachys'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in Equatorial Africa. The shining-blue kingfisher was described of by the French ornithologist Charles Lucian Bonaparte in 1850 ...

Birds of the African tropical rainforest

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Coraciiformes-stub