The blue cuckooshrike (''Cyanograucalus azureus'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the Cuckooshrike family,
Campephagidae.
It is widespread across the
African tropical rainforest, from Sierra Leone and Liberia to eastern and south-western Democratic Republic of Congo.
Its natural
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s are subtropical or tropical dry
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
This species was formerly placed in the genus ''
Coracina
''Coracina'' is a large genus of birds in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae.
The genus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. The type species was subsequently designated as the white-bellied cuckooshrik ...
''. 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 published in 2010 found the genus ''Coracina'' was non-
monophyletic
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria:
# the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
. In the resulting reorganization to create monophyletic genera, the blue cuckooshrike is the only species placed in the resurrected genus ''Cyanograucalus''.
References
External links
Image at ADW
Campephagidae
Birds of the African tropical rainforest
Birds described in 1852
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Campephagidae-stub