''Ceyx'' is an

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

genus of

river kingfisher The river kingfishers or pygmy kingfishers, subfamily Alcedininae, are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers. The river kingfishers are widespread through Africa and east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common ...

s. These kingfishers are found from South East Asia to the Solomon Islands. The genus was introduced by the French naturalist

Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...

in 1799, and derives its name from the Greek myth of Alcyone and Ceyx. The type species is the oriental dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx erithaca''). A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the alcedinine kingfishers published in 2007 found that the genera as then defined did not form

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

groups. The species were subsequently rearranged into four monophyletic genera. The little kingfisher, azure kingfisher,

Bismarck kingfisher The Bismarck kingfisher (''Ceyx websteri'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, freshwater lakes, and freshwater mar ...

, silvery kingfisher and Indigo-banded kingfisher were moved from ''Alcedo'' to ''Ceyx''. All except one of the birds in the reconstituted genus have three rather than the usual four toes. The exception is the Sulawesi dwarf kingfisher which retains a vestigial fourth toe. The

Moluccan dwarf kingfisher The Moluccan dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx lepidus''), formerly known as the variable dwarf kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. Taxonomy This species was previous named the variable dwarf kingfisher and had 15 recognised subs ...

(''Ceyx lepidus'') was previous named the

variable dwarf kingfisher Variable dwarf kingfisher is a common name of a group of kingfishers in the genus, '' Ceyx''. The variable dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx lepidus'' or ''Alcedo lepidus'') formerly included 15 subspecies. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2013 ...

and included 15 recognised subspecies. A genetic study published in 2013 found that most of the subspecies had substantially diverged from one another. The species was therefore split and 12 of the subspecies were promoted to species status. At the same time the name was changed from the variable dwarf kingfisher to the Moluccan dwarf kingfisher. The two African species in the genus ''

Ispidina ''Ispidina'' is a genus of small insectivorous African river kingfishers. The genus was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848 with the African pygmy kingfisher (''Ispidina picta'') as the type species. The genus is the si ...

'' were sometimes placed in this genus. Compared to the related species in the genus '' Alcedo'' they are more terrestrial. There are 21 species in the genus: * Oriental dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx erithaca'' * Philippine dwarf kingfisher ''Ceyx melanurus'' * Sulawesi dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx fallax'' *

, ''Ceyx lepidus'' – previously named a subspecies of the "variable dwarf kingfisher" * Dimorphic dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx margarethae'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * Sula dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx wallacii'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * Buru dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx cajeli'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * Papuan dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx solitarius'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * Manus dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx dispar'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * New Ireland dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx mulcatus'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * New Britain dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx sacerdotis'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * North Solomons dwarf kingfisher, ''Ceyx meeki'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher *

New Georgia dwarf kingfisher The New Georgia dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx collectoris''), is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to the west central Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is sub-tropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This species was ...

, ''Ceyx collectoris'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher *

Malaita dwarf kingfisher The Malaita dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx malaitae''), is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Malaita Island. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This species was formerly considered as o ...

, ''Ceyx malaitae'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher *

Guadalcanal dwarf kingfisher The Guadalcanal dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx nigromaxilla''), is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Guadalcanal Island. Its natural habitat is sub-tropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This species was formerly con ...

, ''Ceyx nigromaxilla'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher *

Makira dwarf kingfisher The Makira dwarf kingfisher (''Ceyx gentianus'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Makira Island. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This species was formerly considered one of ...

, ''Ceyx gentianus'' – previously a subspecies of the variable dwarf kingfisher * Indigo-banded kingfisher, ''Ceyx cyanopectus'' – previously in ''Alcedo'' * Southern silvery kingfisher ''Ceyx argentatus'' – previously in ''Alcedo'' * Northern silvery kingfisher ''Ceyx flumenicola'' – split from ''C. argentatus'' * Azure kingfisher ''Ceyx azureus'' – previously in ''Alcedo'' *

''Ceyx websteri'' – previously in ''Alcedo'' * Little kingfisher ''Ceyx pusillus'' – previously in ''Alcedo''

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceyx (Kingfisher) Alcedininae Bird genera Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède