Mousebird

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Mousebirds
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Coliiformes Murie, 1872 Family: Coliidae Swainson, 1837
Genera
Colius Urocolius Fossil taxa, see article text

The mousebirds are a small group of near passerine birds which have no clear affinities to other groups, and are therefore given order status. This group is confined to sub-Saharan Africa, and is the only bird order confined entirely to that continent. This group had a wider range in prehistoric times and apparently evolved in Europe.

They are slender greyish or brown birds with soft, hairlike body feathers and very long thin tails. 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. They also have crests and stubby bills.

Mousebirds are gregarious, again reinforcing the analogy with mice, and are found in bands of about twenty in lightly wooded country.

These birds build twig nests in trees, which are lined with grasses. 2-4 eggs are typically laid, hatching to give quite precocious young which soon leave the nest and acquire flight.

Contents 1 Systematics and evolution 2 References 2.1 Footnotes 3 External links

[edit] Systematics and evolution

There are comparatively abundant fossils of mousebirds, but it has not been easy to assemble a robust phylogeny. The family is documented to exist from the Early Eocene onwards; by the Late Eocene or earlier, two families are known to have existed, the extant Coliidae and the longer-billed prehistorically extinct Sandcoleidae^[1]. The latter were previously a separate order (Houde & Olson, 1992), but eventually it was realized that they had come to group ancestral Coraciiformes, parrots, 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 (Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré, 1999). The genus Selmes, for example, is probably a coliid, but only distantly related to the modern genera.^[2].

• Order Coliiformes
  • Basal and unassigned forms
    • Genus Chascacocolius (fossil; Late Paleocene ?- Early Eocene) - basal? sandcoleid?
    • Genus Eocolius (fossil; London Clay Early Eocene of Walton-on-the-Naze, England) - sandcoleid or coliid
    • Genus Selmes (fossil; Middle Eocene ?-Late Oligocene of C Europe) - coliid?, possibly synonym of Primocolius
    • "Necrornis" palustris (fossil; Miocene of France) - coliid (genus Colius)?
    • "Picus" archiaci (fossil; Miocene of France) - coliid? genus Limnatornis?
    • "Picus" consobrinus (fossil; Miocene of France) - coliid?
    • Genus Eobucco (fossil) - sandcoleid?
    • Genus Uintornis (fossil) - sandcoleid?
    • Genus Limnatornis (fossil)
  • Family Coliidae
    • • Genus Primocolius (fossil; Late Eocene/Oligocene of Quercy, France)
      • Genus Oligocolius (fossil; Early Oligocene of Frauenweiler, Germany)
      • Genus Masillacolius (fossil; Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany)
    • Subfamily Coliinae
      • Genus Colius
        • Speckled Mousebird, Colius striatus
        • White-headed Mousebird, Colius leucocephalus
        • Red-backed Mousebird, Colius castanotus
        • White-backed Mousebird, Colius colius
        • Colius hendeyi (fossil; Early Pliocene of Langerbaanweg, South Africa)
    • Subfamily Urocoliinae
      • Genus Urocolius
        • Blue-naped Mousebird, Urocolius macrourus
        • Red-faced Mousebird, Urocolius indicus
  • Family Sandcoleidae
    • Genus Sandcoleus
    • Genus Anneavis
    • Genus Eoglaucidium

[edit] References

• Houde, Peter & Olson, Storrs L. (1992): A radiation of coly-like birds from the Eocene of North America (Aves: Sandcoleiformes, new order). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series 36: 137-160. PDF fulltext

• Mayr, Gerald & Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (1999): Unusual tarsometatarsus of a mousebird from the Paleogene of France and the relationships of Selmes Peters, 1999. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 24(2): 366-372. PDF fulltext

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ This is not a typographical error, but a Latinization of Sand Coulee River, where some fossils of Sandcoleus where found. In spoken English, "Coliidae" and "-coleidae" sounds identical.
2. ^ It has a peculiar foot morphology not found in any other bird, with very stubby toes. The specific name absurdipes ("absurd foot") refers to this. The genus name is an anagram of "Messel", where it was first found.

[edit] External links

• Mousebird videos on the Internet Bird Collection