Cissa (genus) explained

Cissa is a genus of relatively short-tailed magpies, sometimes known as hunting cissas, that reside in the forests of tropical and subtropical southeast Asia and adjacent regions. The four species are quite similar with bright red bills, primarily green plumage, black mask, and rufous wings.

Due to a low-carotenoid diet^[1] they often appear blue or turquoise in captivity; the structural color of their feathers.

They are carnivorous, and mainly feed on arthropods and small vertebrates.

The genus was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) as the type species.^{[2] [3]} The name Cissa is from the Ancient Greek kissa meaning a "jay" or "magpie".^[4]

Species

The genus Cissa contains four species:^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: When Javan Green Magpies feel blue – Silent Forest . 2023-04-03 . www.silentforest.eu.
2. Boie . Friedrich . Friedrich Boie . 1826 . Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen . Isis von Oken . de . 19 . Cols 969–981 [975 Fn. 2].
3. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Greenway . James C. Jr . 1962 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 15 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 242 .
4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . limited . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 109 .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2019 . Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise . World Bird List Version 9.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 25 August 2019 .