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Water Kingfisher

 
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Water Kingfisher
 
 
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The water kingfishers or Cerylidae are one of the three families
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 of kingfisher
Kingfisher

Kingfishers are small bright colored birds of the three families Alcedinidae , Halcyonidae , and Cerylidae . There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher....
s, and are also known as the cerylid kingfishers. All six American species are in this family.

These are all specialist fish-eating species, unlike many representatives of the other two families, and it is likely that they are all descended from fish-eating kingfishers which founded populations in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
. It was believed that the entire group evolved in the Americas, but this seems not to be true.






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The water kingfishers or Cerylidae are one of the three families
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 of kingfisher
Kingfisher

Kingfishers are small bright colored birds of the three families Alcedinidae , Halcyonidae , and Cerylidae . There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher....
s, and are also known as the cerylid kingfishers. All six American species are in this family.

These are all specialist fish-eating species, unlike many representatives of the other two families, and it is likely that they are all descended from fish-eating kingfishers which founded populations in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
. It was believed that the entire group evolved in the Americas, but this seems not to be true. The original ancestor possibly evolved in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 - at any rate in the Old World - and the Chloroceryle species are the youngest ones.

Not longer than 5 million years ago - possibly as recently as 2.9 million years ago -, an Old World giant kingfisher became the ancestor of the Belted
Belted Kingfisher

The Belted Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous and noisy water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada....
 and Ringed Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher

The Ringed Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous and noisy kingfisher, commonly found along the lower Rio Grande River valley in southeasternmost Texas in the United States through Central America to Tierra del Fuego in South America....
s, and later, another species related to the Pied Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher

The Pied Kingfisher is a kingfisher in the near passerine bird family Cerylidae, the water kingfishers. It is the only member of the genus Ceryle....
 became the ancestor of the Chloroceryle green kingfishers after colonizing the Americas. While the evolutionary history of the Water Kingfishers in regard to their internal relationships is well resolved, it is not entirely clear whether they evolved from river kingfishers or tree kingfisher
Tree Kingfisher

The tree kingfishers or wood kingfishers, family Halcyonidae, are the most numerous of the three families of birds in the kingfisher group....
s, and whether they immigrated across the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean (though the former seems more likely).

There are 9 water kingfisher species in three genera:

  • The four large crested kingfishers, Megaceryle
    Megaceryle

    Megaceryle is a genus of very large kingfishers. It comprises four species:* Giant Kingfisher, Megaceryle maxima* Crested Kingfisher, Megaceryle lugubris...
    , have a wide distribution in Africa
    Africa

    Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
    , Asia
    Asia

    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
     and America. The Belted Kingfisher
    Belted Kingfisher

    The Belted Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous and noisy water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada....
    , M. alcyon, is the only kingfisher that is widespread in North America
    North America

    North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
    , though M. torquata may be found as far north as Texas
    Texas

    Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
     and Arizona
    Arizona

    The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
    .
    • Giant Kingfisher
      Giant Kingfisher

      The Giant Kingfisher, Megaceryle maxima, is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert other than the arid southwest....
       (Megaceryle maxima)
    • Crested Kingfisher
      Crested Kingfisher

      The Crested Kingfisher Megaceryle lugubris is resident of the Himalayas and foothills of North East India, Bangladesh, northern Indochina, and south and east China....
       (Megaceryle lugubris)
    • Belted Kingfisher
      Belted Kingfisher

      The Belted Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous and noisy water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada....
       (Megaceryle alcyon)
    • Ringed Kingfisher
      Ringed Kingfisher

      The Ringed Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous and noisy kingfisher, commonly found along the lower Rio Grande River valley in southeasternmost Texas in the United States through Central America to Tierra del Fuego in South America....
       (Megaceryle torquata)


  • The Pied Kingfisher
    Pied Kingfisher

    The Pied Kingfisher is a kingfisher in the near passerine bird family Cerylidae, the water kingfishers. It is the only member of the genus Ceryle....
     (Ceryle rudis), the only member of Ceryle, is widespread in the tropical regions of the Old World
    Old World

    The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
    .


  • The four American green kingfisher
    American green kingfisher

    The American green kingfishers are the Chloroceryle genus of kingfishers, which are native to tropical Central America and South America, with one species extending north to south Texas....
    s (Chloroceryle) of tropical America.
    • Amazon Kingfisher
      Amazon Kingfisher

      The Amazon Kingfisher, Chloroceryle amazona, is a resident breeding bird in the lowlands of the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America to northern Argentina....
       (Chloroceryle amazona)
    • Green Kingfisher
      Green Kingfisher

      The Green Kingfisher, Chloroceryle americana, is a resident breeding bird which occurs from southern Texas in the USA south through Central America and South Americal to central Argentina....
       (Chloroceryle americana)
    • Green-and-rufous Kingfisher
      Green-and-rufous Kingfisher

      The Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Chloroceryle inda, is a resident breeding bird in the lowlands of the Americas tropics from southeastern Nicaragua south to southern Brazil....
       (Chloroceryle inda)
    • American Pygmy Kingfisher
      American Pygmy Kingfisher

      The American Pygmy Kingfisher, Chloroceryle aenea, is a resident breeding bird which occurs in the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America to western Ecuador, and then around the northern Andes cordillera in the east to central Bolivia and central Brazil....
       (Chloroceryle aenea)