''Clamator'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of large brood-parasitic cuckoos with crests and graduated tails. The genus was erected by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829 with the great spotted cuckoo (''Clamator glandarius'') as the type species. The name ''Clamator'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "he who shouts" from ''clamare'', "to shout".

Species

There are four species:

Distribution

''Clamator'' cuckoos are found in warmer parts of southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

south of the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. These are birds of warm open scrubby habitats, but some species are at least partially migratory, leaving for warmer and wetter areas in winter. These are large cuckoos, all at least long, with broad chestnut wings and long narrow tails. They are strikingly patterned with black, white and brown

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

. The sexes are similar but the juvenile plumages are distinctive. The two African species each also have two distinct colour morphs, light and dark. All the ''Clamator'' cuckoos are brood parasites, which lay a single egg in the nests of medium-sized hosts, such as magpies, starlings, shrikes, laughingthrushes,

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

s and babblers, depending on location. Unlike the

common cuckoo The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the Geococcyx, roadrunners, the ani (bird), anis and the coucals. This species is a widesp ...

, neither the hen nor the hatched chick of ''Clamator'' species evict the host's eggs, but the host's young often die because they cannot compete successfully with the cuckoo for food. These are noisy birds, with persistent and loud calls. They feed on large

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, with hairy

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s, which are distasteful to many birds, being a specialty.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bird genera