The Indochinese roller (Coracias affinis) or Burmese roller, is a member of the roller bird family. It occurs widely from Nepal, eastern India to Myanmar and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[1]
| Indochinese roller | |
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| from Thailand | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Coraciidae |
| Genus: | Coracias |
| Species: | C. affinis
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| Binomial name | |
| Coracias affinis Horsfield, 1840
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Taxonomy
editThe Indochinese roller was formally described in 1840 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield under the binomial name Coracias affinis based on specimens that had been collected in Assam by the naturalist John McClelland.[2] The specific epithet affinis is from Latin adfinis or affinis meaning "related" or "allied".[3]
McClelland has sometimes been credited as the authority but under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Horsfield now receives the credit.[4][5] The Indochinese roller was formerly considered as a subspecies of the Indian roller because of a narrow hybrid zone in northeast India but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the Indochinese roller was more closely related to the purple-winged roller (Coracias temminckii) than it is to the Indian roller.[6] The Indochinese roller is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[7]
The phylogenetic relationships among the Coracias species are shown below, from the molecular study by Johansson et al. (2018)[6]
| Coracias |
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Description
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It is a stocky bird. The crown and vent are blue. The primaries are deep purplish blue with a band of pale blue. The tail is sky blue with a terminal band of Prussian blue and the central feathers are dull green. The neck and throat are purplish lilac with white shaft streaks. The bare patch around the eye is ochre in colour. The three forward toes are united at the base.[8] Rollers have a long and compressed bill with a curved upper edge and a hooked tip. The nostril is long and exposed and there are long rictal bristles at the base of the bill.[9] It has a purplish brown and unstreaked face and breast.[8] It has underwing coverts in a deep shade of blue.[10]
Distribution and habitat
editThe Indochinese roller is distributed across Asia, from eastern India into Southeast Asia.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b BirdLife International (2016). "Coracias affinis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22725924A94906187. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22725924A94906187.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Horsfield, Thomas. "List of Mammalia and Birds collected in Assam by John McClelland, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon in the service of the East-India Company, Bengal Establishment, Member of the late Deputation which was sent into that country for the purpose of investigating the nature of the Tea Plant". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Part 7: 146-167 [164]. Although the volume is date 1839, the article was not published until 1840.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 243–244.
- ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Walters, M.P. (2003). "Systematic notes on Asian birds. 38. The McClelland drawings and a reappraisal of the 1835-36 survey of the birds of Assam" (PDF). Zoologische Verhandelingen. 344: 63–106.
- ^ a b Johansson, U. S.; Irestedt, M.; Qu, Y.; Ericson, P. G. P. (2018). "Phylogenetic relationships of rollers (Coraciidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and fifteen nuclear genes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 126: 17–22. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.030. PMID 29631051. S2CID 5011292.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ a b Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2: Attributes and Status (2nd ed.). Washington D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions. p. 270. ISBN 978-84-96553-87-3.
- ^ Whistler, Hugh (1949). Popular Handbook of Indian Birds (4th ed.). Gurney and Jackson, London. pp. 293–295.
- ^ a b Ali, S.; Ripley, S.D. (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 116–120.