The Society kingfisher or Tahiti kingfisher (''Todiramphus veneratus'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to the Society Islands of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. Its natural habitats are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Taxonomy

The Society kingfisher was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin , fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , doctora ...

in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. He placed it with the other kingfishers in the genus '' Alcedo'' and coined the

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 venerata''. Gmelin based his description on the "venerated kingsfisher" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. Latham had access to a specimen in the

Leverian Museum The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up ...

which he erroneously believed had come from the "Friendly Islands", now Tonga in western Polynesia. Latham noted that the Polynesians revered and protected kingfishers. The specimen would have been collected during either

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

voyages to the Pacific Ocean. Three water-colour drawings survive from Cook's voyages that are believed to depict the Society kingfisher: one by the naturalist Georg Forster painted on Cook's second voyage, one by

William Wade Ellis William Wade Ellis (1751 – 1785) was an artist, a naturalist, and a surgeon's mate on Captain James Cook's voyages. His middle name was wrongly identified as Webb in some sources. He is known largely from the paintings of natural history subjects ...

painted on Cook's third voyage and one by the artist

John Webber John Webber (6 October 1751 – 29 May 1793) was an English artist who accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific expedition. He is best known for his images of Australasia, Hawaii and Alaska. Biography Webber was born in London, edu ...

that was also painted on the third voyage. The Society kingfisher is now one of 30 species placed in the genus '' Todiramphus'' that was introduced in 1827 by

René Lesson René-Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, and entered the Naval Medical School in Rochefort at the age of sixteen. He ...

. The word ''Todiramphus'' combines the genus name '' Todus'' with the Ancient Greek ''rhamphos'' meaning "bill". The specific epithet ''veneratus'' is Latin meaning "venerated". Two subspecies are recognised: * ''T. v. veneratus'' ( Gmelin, JF, 1788) – Tahiti ( Society Islands, east Polynesia) * ''T. v. youngi'' Sharpe, 1892 – Moorea ( west of Tahiti, Society Islands, east Polynesia)

Description

The Society kingfisher is around in overall length. The male of the

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

on Tahiti has dull olive upperparts with a brownish blue-green head and an aquamarine area behind the eye and on the ear coverts. The underparts are white with a variable broad rusty chest-band. The female on Tahiti is dusky brown above and has a prominent brown breast-band. The male of ''T. v. youngi'' on Moorea is pale brown above.

References

Todiramphus Endemic birds of Tahiti Least concern biota of Oceania Birds described in 1788 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic birds of French Polynesia {{Coraciiformes-stub