Ispidina

Ispidina is a genus of small insectivorous African river kingfishers.

Ispidina
African pygmy kingfisher (Ispidina picta)
African dwarf kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Coraciiformes
Family:	Alcedinidae
Subfamily:	Alcedininae
Genus:	Ispidina Kaup, 1848
Type species
Todus pictus[1] Boddaert, 1783
Species
see text
African pygmy kingfisher range   Extant (resident)   Extant (breeding)
African dwarf kingfisher range

The genus was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848 with the African pygmy kingfisher (Ispidina picta) as the type species.^[2][3] The genus is the sister group to the genus Corythornis containing four small African kingfishers.^[4]

Species

The two species in the genus are:^[5]

Genus Ispidina – Kaup, 1848 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
African pygmy kingfisher	Ispidina picta (Boddaert, 1783) Three subspecies I. p. picta (Boddaert, 1783) I. p. ferrugina Clancey, 1984 I. p. natalensis (Smith, A, 1832)	Africa south of the Sahara	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
African dwarf kingfisher	Ispidina lecontei Cassin, 1856 Two subspecies I. l. ruficeps Hartlaub, 1857 I. l. lecontei Cassin, 1856	Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Uganda.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

These similar small kingfishers can be distinguished by the blue crown of the African pigmy kingfisher. They have different habit preferences and have mostly non-overlapping ranges. The slightly smaller African dwarf kingfisher occurs in tropical rainforests while the African pygmy kingfisher occurs in dry grassy woodland.^[6]

References

1. "Alcedinidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
2. Kaup, Johann Jakob (1848). "Die Familie der Eisvögel (Alcedidae)". Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins für das Großherzogthum Hessen und Umgebung (in German). 2: 71–72. OCLC 183221382.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 177.
4. Andersen, M.J.; McCullough, J.M.; Mauck III, W.M.; Smith, B.T.; Moyle, R.G. (2017). "A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands". Journal of Biogeography. 44 (2): 269–281. doi:10.1111/jbi.13139. S2CID 90416559.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2016). "Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers". World Bird List Version 6.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
6. Fry, C. Hilary; Fry, Kathie; Harris, Alan (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 195–198. ISBN 978-0-7136-8028-7.