The mousebirds are
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s in the
order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...
Eucavitaves, which includes the
Leptosomiformes (the
cuckoo roller),
Trogoniformes (
trogons),
Bucerotiformes
Bucerotiformes is an order of birds that contains the hornbills, ground hornbills, hoopoes and wood hoopoes. These birds were previously classified as members of Coraciiformes. The clade is distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe and Melanesia.
...
(
hornbills
Hornbills (Bucerotidae) are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a casque on the upper man ...
and
hoopoes
Hoopoes () are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive "crown" of feathers. Three living and one extinct species are recognized, though for many years all of the extant species were lumped as a singl ...
),
Piciformes (
woodpeckers
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions ...
,
toucans, and
barbets
Barbet may refer to:
* Barbet (dog), a dog breed
* Various birds in the infraorder Ramphastides
** African barbet, part of the bird family Lybiidae
** New World barbet, the bird family Capitonidae
** Asian barbet, the bird family Megalaimidae
** ...
) and
Coraciformes
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful birds including the kingfishers, the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes (and toes 3 & 4 fused at their base), ...
(
kingfishers,
bee-eaters
The bee-eaters are a group of non-passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by ...
,
rollers,
motmot
The motmots or Momotidae are a family of birds in the order coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. All extant motmots are restricted to woodland or forests in the Neotropics, and the largest are in Middle A ...
s, and
todies).
[
] This group is now confined to sub-Saharan
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, and it is the only bird order confined entirely to that continent, with the possible exception of
turacos which are considered by some as the distinct order
Musophagiformes, and the
cuckoo roller, which is the only member of the order Leptosomiformes, and which is found in
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
but not mainland Africa. Mousebirds had a wider range in the
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...
, with a widespread distribution in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
during the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
.
[
]
Description
Mousebirds are slender greyish or brown birds with soft, hairlike body
feathers. They are typically about in body length, with a long, thin tail a further in length, and weigh .
They are arboreal and scurry through the leaves like
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
s, in search of berries, fruit and buds. This habit, and their legs, gives rise to the group's
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
name. They are acrobatic, and can feed upside down. All species have strong claws and reversible outer toes (
pamprodactyl feet). They also have
crests and stubby bills.
Behaviour and ecology
Mousebirds are gregarious, again reinforcing the analogy with
mice
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...
, and are found in bands of about 20 in lightly wooded country. These birds build cup-shaped twig nests in trees, which are lined with grasses. Clutches of two to three eggs are typically laid.
Systematics and evolution
The mousebirds could be considered "
living fossil
A living fossil is an extant taxon that cosmetically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living foss ...
s" as the six species extant today are merely the survivors of a lineage that was massively more diverse in the early
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...
and
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
. There are comparatively abundant fossils of Coliiformes, but it has not been easy to assemble a robust
phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological s ...
. The family is documented to exist from the Early
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
onwards; by at least the Late
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
, two families are known to have existed, the extant Coliidae and the longer-billed prehistorically
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
Sandcoleidae.
The latter were previously a separate order, but eventually it was realized that they had come to group ancestral
Coraciiformes
The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful birds including the kingfishers, the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes (and toes 3 & 4 fused at their bas ...
, the actual sandcoleids and forms like ''
Neanis'' together in a
paraphyletic
In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...
assemblage. Even though the sandcoleids are now assumed to be monophyletic following the removal of these taxa, many forms cannot be conclusively assigned to one family or the other. The genus ''
Selmes'', for example, is probably a coliid, but only distantly related to the modern genera.
Extinct Coliiformes occupied a wide range of ecologies. Sandcoleids in particular often preserve uncrushed seeds on their stomachs, while bearing talons similar to those of modern
birds of prey.
Taxonomy
Order COLIIFORMES
[Mikko's Phylogeny Archiv]
* Genus †''
Botauroides''
Shufeldt 1915 (Eocene of Wyoming, US)
** †''B. parvus''
Shufeldt 1915
* Genus †''
Eobucco''
Feduccia & Martin 1976 - sandcoleid?
** †''E. brodkorbi''
Feduccia & Martin 1976
* Genus †''
Eocolius''
Dyke & Waterhouse 2001 (London Clay Early Eocene of Walton-on-the-Naze, England) - sandcoleid or coliid
** †''E. walkeri''
Dyke & Waterhouse 2001
* Genus †''
Limnatornis''
Milne-Edwards 1871 'Palaeopicus'' Lambrecht 1933 ex Brodkorb 1952(Early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France) - coliid? (''Urocolius''?)
** †''
L. consobrinus''
(Milne-Edwards 1871) [''Picus consobrinus''
Milne-Edwards 1871; ''Palaeopicus consobrinus''
(Milne-Edwards 1871) Lambrecht 1933 nomen nudum; ''Urocolius consobrinus''
(Milne-Edwards 1871)]
** †''Limnatornis paludicola, L. paludicola''
Milne-Edwards 1871 [''Colius paludicola''
(Milne-Edwards 1871) Ballmann 1969a; ''Urocolius paludicola''
(Milne-Edwards 1871)]
** †''
Limnatornis archiaci, L. archiaci''
(Milne-Edwards 1871) 'Picus archiaci'' Milne-Edwards 1871; ''Colius archiaci'' (Milne-Edwards 1871) Ballmann 1969a; ''Urocolius archiaci'' (Milne-Edwards 1871) Mlíkovský 2002(Early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France)
* Coliiformes gen. et sp. indet. (Late Miocene of Kohfidisch, Austria)
* Genus †''
Uintornis''
Marsh 1872 - sandcoleid?
** †''
U. lucaris''
Brodkorb 1971
** †''
U. marionae''
Feduccia & Martin 1976
* Family †
Chascacocoliidae Zelenkov & Dyke 2008
** Genus †''
Chascacocolius''
Houde & Olson 1992 (Late Paleocene ?- Early Eocene) - basal? sandcoleid?
*** †''
C. oscitans''
Houde & Olson 1992
*** †''
C. cacicirostris''
Mayr 2005
* Family †
Selmeidae Zelenkov & Dyke 2008
** Genus †''
Selmes''
Mayr 1998 ex Peters 1999 (Middle Eocene ?-Late Oligocene of C Europe) - coliid? (synonym of ''Primocolius''?)
*** †''S. absurdipes''
Mayr 1998 ex Peters 1999
* Family †
Sandcoleidae
Sandcoleidae is an extinct family of birds in the order Coliiformes (mousebirds). Fossils of this family have been found in Denmark and the United States. The group may be paraphylectic and is sometimes placed in the separate order Sandcoleiforme ...
Houde & Olson 1992 sensu Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2004
** Genus †''
Sandcoleus''
Houde & Olson 1992 (Paleocene)
*** †''S. copiosus''
Houde & Olson 1992
** Genus †''
Anneavis''
Houde & Olson 1992
*** †''A. anneae''
Houde & Olson 1992
** Genus †''
Eoglaucidium''
Fischer 1987
*** †''E. pallas''
Fischer 1987
** Genus †''
Tsidiiyazhi
''Tsidiiyazhi abini'' ( nv, little morning bird) is an extinct relative of the modern mousebirds, found in 2017 in the Nacimiento Formation on ancestral Navajo lands in New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neom ...
''
Ksepka, Stidham & Williamson 2017 (Paleocene of New Mexico)
*** †''T. abini''
Ksepka, Stidham & Williamson 2017
* Family
Coliidae Swainson 1837 sensu Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré 2004
** Genus †''
Celericolius''
Ksepka & Clarke 2010
*** †''C. acriala''
Ksepka & Clarke 2010
** Genus †''
Masillacolius''
Mayr & Peters 1998 (middle Eocene of Messel, Germany)
*** †''M. brevidactylus''
Mayr & Peters 1998
** Genus †''
Oligocolius''
Mayr 2000 (Early Oligocene of Frauenweiler, Germany)
*** †''O. brevitarsus''
Mayr 2000
*** †''O. psittacocephalon''
Mayr 2013
** Genus †''
Palaeospiza''
Allen 1878
*** †''Palaeospiza bella''
Allen 1878
** Genus †''
Primocolius''
Mourer-Chauviré 1988 (Late Eocene/Oligocene of Quercy, France)
*** †''
P. sigei''
Mourer-Chauviré 1988
*** †''
P. minor''
Mourer-Chauviré 1988
** Subfamily Coliinae
*** Genus ''
Urocolius'' (2 species)
**** ''
U. indicus''
(Latham 1790) (Red-faced mousebird)
**** ''
U. macrourus''
(Linnaeus 1766) (Blue-naped mousebird)
*** Genus ''
Colius''
'Necrornis'' Milne-Edwards 1871(4 species)
**** †''
C. hendeyi''
Vickers-Rich & Haarhoff 1985
**** †''
C. palustris''
(Milne-Edwards 1871) Ballmann 1969 'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871.html" ;"title="Necrornis_palustris.html" ;"title="'
'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871">Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''
'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871">Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''Colius_castanotus">C._castanotus''_
Verreaux_&_Verreaux_1855_(Red-backed_mousebird)
****_''
'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871">Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''Colius_castanotus">C._castanotus''_
Verreaux_&_Verreaux_1855_(Red-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_colius">C._colius''_
(Linnaeus_1766)_(White-backed_mousebird)
****_''
'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871">Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''Colius_castanotus">C._castanotus''_
Verreaux_&_Verreaux_1855_(Red-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_colius">C._colius''_
(Linnaeus_1766)_(White-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_leucocephalus">C._leucocephalus''_
Reichenow_1879_(White-headed_mousebird)
****_''
'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871">Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_
Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''Colius_castanotus">C._castanotus''_
Verreaux_&_Verreaux_1855_(Red-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_colius">C._colius''_
(Linnaeus_1766)_(White-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_leucocephalus">C._leucocephalus''_
Reichenow_1879_(White-headed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_striatus">C._striatus''_
Gmelin_1789_(Speckled_mousebird)
_Footnotes
_References
*_
*_McCormack,_J.E._''et_al.''_(2012
A_phylogeny_of_birds_based_on_over_1,500_loci_collected_by_target_enrichment_and_high-throughput_sequencing
_
*_Mlíkovský,_Jirí_(2002):_''Cenozoic_Birds_of_the_World,_Part_1:_Europe''._Ninox_Press,_Prague._PDF_fulltext
!--_This_should_be_treated_with_extreme_caution_as_regards_merging_of_species._Splits_are_usually_good_though._See_also_critical_review_in_Auk121:623-627_here_http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879_-->
_External_links
Mousebird_videos
on_the_Internet_Bird_Collection
Picture_of_a_mousebird
atop_a_tree
{{Taxonbar.html" ;"title="Colius_striatus.html" ;"title="Colius_leucocephalus.html" ;"title="Colius_colius.html" ;"title="Colius_castanotus.html" ;"title="Necrornis palustris">' Necrornis_palustris.html"_;"title="'Necrornis_palustris">'Necrornis_palustris''_Milne-Edwards_1871ref>Storrs_Olson_(1985):_The_Fossil_Record_of_Birds_In:_Avian_Biology,_No._8:_p._79–238_
****_''Colius_castanotus">C._castanotus''_Verreaux_&_Verreaux_1855_(Red-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_colius">C._colius''_(Linnaeus_1766)_(White-backed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_leucocephalus">C._leucocephalus''_Reichenow_1879_(White-headed_mousebird)
****_''Colius_striatus">C._striatus''_Gmelin_1789_(Speckled_mousebird)
_Footnotes
_References
*_
*_McCormack,_J.E._''et_al.''_(2012
A_phylogeny_of_birds_based_on_over_1,500_loci_collected_by_target_enrichment_and_high-throughput_sequencing
_
*_Mlíkovský,_Jirí_(2002):_''Cenozoic_Birds_of_the_World,_Part_1:_Europe''._Ninox_Press,_Prague._PDF_fulltext
!--_This_should_be_treated_with_extreme_caution_as_regards_merging_of_species._Splits_are_usually_good_though._See_also_critical_review_in_Auk121:623-627_here_http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879_-->
_External_links
Mousebird_videos
on_the_Internet_Bird_Collection
Picture_of_a_mousebird
atop_a_tree
{{Taxonbar">from=Q180691
Coliiformes.html" ;"title="Necrornis palustris'' Milne-Edwards 1871">Necrornis_palustris.html" ;"title="'Necrornis palustris">'Necrornis palustris'' Milne-Edwards 1871ref>Storrs Olson (1985): The Fossil Record of Birds In: Avian Biology, No. 8: p. 79–238
**** ''Colius castanotus">C. castanotus'' Verreaux & Verreaux 1855 (Red-backed mousebird)
**** ''Colius colius">C. colius'' (Linnaeus 1766) (White-backed mousebird)
**** ''Colius leucocephalus">C. leucocephalus'' Reichenow 1879 (White-headed mousebird)
**** ''Colius striatus">C. striatus'' Gmelin 1789 (Speckled mousebird)
Footnotes
References
*
* McCormack, J.E. ''et al.'' (2012
A phylogeny of birds based on over 1,500 loci collected by target enrichment and high-throughput sequencing
* Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): ''Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe''. Ninox Press, Prague. PDF fulltext
!-- This should be treated with extreme caution as regards merging of species. Splits are usually good though. See also critical review in Auk121:623-627 here http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200404/ai_n9396879 -->
External links
Mousebird videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
Picture of a mousebird
atop a tree
{{Taxonbar">from=Q180691
Coliiformes">
Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Afrotropics
Extant Danian first appearances