Tauraco is a genus of turacos. It contains the "typical" or green turacos; though their plumage is not always green all over, the presence of significant amounts of turacoverdin-colored plumage generally sets Tauraco species apart from other Musophagidae. Indeed, as opposed to any other known birds, Tauraco turacos are the only living bird taxa that have any significant green pigment whatsoever, as the greens of many parrots etc. are due to structural color, not pigment. Their genus name was derived from a native West African name.[1]
| Tauraco | |
|---|---|
| |
| Fischer's turaco (Tauraco fischeri) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Musophagiformes |
| Family: | Musophagidae |
| Subfamily: | Musophaginae |
| Genus: | Tauraco Kluk, 1779 |
| Type species | |
| Cuculus persa (Guinea turaco) Linnaeus, 1758
| |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Taxonomy
editThe genus Tauraco was introduced in 1779 by the Polish naturalist Jan Krzysztof Kluk.[2] The type species was later designated as the Guinea turaco.[3]
Species
editThe genus contains 13 species.[4]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guinea turaco (also called green turaco)
|
Tauraco persa (Linnaeus, 1758) |
West and Central Africa, ranging from Senegal east to DR Congo and south to northern Angola
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Livingstone's turaco
|
Tauraco livingstonii (Reichenow, 1891) |
Burundi, and is besides found from southern Tanzania to eastern and southern Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe, widely in Mozambique and along the subtropical coast of South Africa.
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Schalow's turaco
|
Tauraco schalowi (Reichenow, 1891) |
Zambia, central Angola, the southern DRC, and the uplands of southern Kenya, northern and western Tanzania and western Malawi
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Knysna turaco
|
Tauraco corythaix (Wagler, 1827) |
South Africa
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Black-billed turaco
|
Tauraco schuettii (Cabanis, 1879) |
Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, West Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Ross's turaco
|
Tauraco rossae (Gould, 1852) |
Cameroon to South Sudan and western Kenya south to Angola and Botswana
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Fischer's turaco
|
Tauraco fischeri (Reichenow, 1878) |
Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
| Yellow-billed turaco
|
Tauraco macrorhynchus (Fraser, 1839) |
Angola, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Hartlaub's turaco
|
Tauraco hartlaubi (Fischer & Reichenow, 1884) |
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Violet turaco
|
Tauraco violaceus (Isert, 1788) |
Senegal and Gambia to Chad and Central African Republic | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| White-crested turaco
|
Tauraco leucolophus (Heuglin, 1855) |
eastern Nigeria and western Kenya
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Red-crested turaco
|
Tauraco erythrolophus (Vieillot, 1819) |
Angola
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Bannerman's turaco
|
Tauraco bannermani (Bates, GL, 1923) |
Cameroon
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN
|
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References
edit- ^ Carnaby, Trevor (2008). Beat about the bush: Birds (1st ed.). Johannesburg: Jacana. p. 31. ISBN 9781770092419.
- ^ Kluk, Krzysztofa (1779). Zwierzat domowych i dzikich, osobliwie kraiowych. Historyi naturalney poczatki i gospodarstwo. Tom. II. Z figurami. O ptastwie (in Polish). Warsaw: Drukarni J. K. Mości i Rzeczypospolitey u XX. Scholarum Piarum. p. 25.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 3.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
