Shining-blue kingfisher explained

The shining-blue kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in Equatorial Africa.

The shining-blue kingfisher was described of by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850 and given its current binomial name Alcedo quadribrachys.^{[1] [2]} The name Alcedo is the Latin word for a "kingfisher". The specific epithet quadribrachys is from the Latin quadri- for "four" and brachium meaning "arms" or in this case "toes".^[3] The shining-blue kingfisher is one of seven species in the genus Alcedo and is most closely related to the half-collared kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata).^{[4] [5]}

There are two subspecies:^[4]

• A. q. quadribrachys Bonaparte, 1850 – Senegal and Gambia to west central Nigeria
• A. q. guentheri Sharpe, 1892 – southern Nigeria to Kenya, northwest Zambia and north Angola

Notes and References

1. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1945 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 5 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 175 .
2. Book: Bonaparte, Charles Lucien . Charles Lucien Bonaparte . 1850 . Conspectus Generum Avium . 1 . la . E.J. Brill . Leiden . 158 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 40, 328 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2017 . Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers . World Bird List Version 7.3 . International Ornithologists' Union . 3 December 2017 .
5. Andersen . M.J. . McCullough . J.M. . Mauck III . W.M. . Smith . B.T. . Moyle . R.G. . 2017 . A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands . Journal of Biogeography . 45 . 2 . 1–13 . 10.1111/jbi.13139 . free .