Tauraco
Fischer's turaco
(Tauraco fischeri)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Musophagiformes
Family: Musophagidae
Subfamily: Musophaginae
Genus: Tauraco
Kluk, 1779
Type species
Cuculus persa (Guinea turaco)
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Tauraco is a genus of turacos. It contains the "typical" or green turacos; though their plumage is not always green all over, the presence of significant amounts of turacoverdin-colored plumage generally sets Tauraco species apart from other Musophagidae. Indeed, as opposed to any other known birds, Tauraco turacos are the only living bird taxa that have any significant green pigment whatsoever, as the greens of many parrots etc. are due to structural color, not pigment. Their genus name was derived from a native West African name.[1]

Taxonomy

The genus Tauraco was introduced in 1779 by the Polish naturalist Jan Krzysztof Kluk.[2] The type species was later designated as the Guinea turaco.[3]

Species

The genus contains 13 species.[4]

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Guinea turaco (also called green turaco)Tauraco persaWest and Central Africa, ranging from Senegal east to DR Congo and south to northern Angola
Livingstone's turacoTauraco livingstoniiBurundi, and is besides found from southern Tanzania to eastern and southern Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe, widely in Mozambique and along the subtropical coast of South Africa.
Schalow's turacoTauraco schalowiZambia, central Angola, the southern DRC, and the uplands of southern Kenya, northern and western Tanzania and western Malawi
Knysna turacoTauraco corythaixSouth Africa
Black-billed turacoTauraco schuettiiDemocratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, West Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Ross's turacoTauraco rossaeCameroon to South Sudan and western Kenya south to Angola and Botswana
Fischer's turacoTauraco fischeriKenya, Somalia, and Tanzania
Yellow-billed turacoTauraco macrorhynchusAngola, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone
Hartlaub's turacoTauraco hartlaubiKenya, Tanzania, and Uganda
Violet turacoTauraco violaceusSenegal and Gambia to Chad and Central African Republic
White-crested turacoTauraco leucolophuseastern Nigeria and western Kenya
Red-crested turacoTauraco erythrolophusAngola
Bannerman's turacoTauraco bannermaniCameroon

References

  1. ↑ Carnaby, Trevor (2008). Beat about the bush: Birds (1st ed.). Johannesburg: Jacana. p. 31. ISBN 9781770092419.
  2. ↑ Kluk, Krzysztofa (1779). Zwierzat domowych i dzikich, osobliwie kraiowych. Historyi naturalney poczatki i gospodarstwo. Tom. II. Z figurami. O ptastwie (in Polish). Warsaw: Drukarni J. K. Mości i Rzeczypospolitey u XX. Scholarum Piarum. p. 25.
  3. ↑ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 3.
  4. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  • Media related to Tauraco at Wikimedia Commons
  • Data related to Tauraco at Wikispecies
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