Coliidae

The mousebirds are birds in the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Eucavitaves, which includes the Leptosomiformes (the cuckoo roller), Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes (hornbills and hoopoes), Piciformes (woodpeckers, toucans, and barbets) and Coraciformes (kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, motmots, and todies).

This group is now confined to sub-Saharan Africa, 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 but not mainland Africa. Mousebirds had a wider range in the Paleogene, with a widespread distribution in Europe and North America during the Paleocene.

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 rodents, in search of berries, fruit and buds. This habit, and their legs, gives rise to the group's English 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, 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 fossils" as the six species extant today are merely the survivors of a lineage that was massively more diverse in the early Paleogene and Miocene. There are comparatively abundant fossils of Coliiformes, but it has not been easy to assemble a robust phylogeny. The family is documented to exist from the Early Paleocene onwards; by at least the Late Eocene, two families are known to have existed, the extant Coliidae and the longer-billed prehistorically extinct Sandcoleidae.

The latter were previously a separate order, but eventually it was realized that they had come to group ancestral Coraciiformes, the actual sandcoleids and forms like ''Neanis'' together in a paraphyletic 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 COLIIFORMESMikko'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 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'' 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">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
**** '' C. castanotus'' Verreaux & Verreaux 1855 (Red-backed mousebird)
**** '' C. colius'' (Linnaeus 1766) (White-backed mousebird)
**** '' C. leucocephalus'' Reichenow 1879 (White-headed mousebird)
**** '' 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

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Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Afrotropics
Extant Danian first appearances