Editing Kingfisher (section)

== Taxonomy, systematics and evolution ==
The kingfisher [[family (biology)|family]] Alcedinidae is in the order [[Coraciiformes]], which also includes the [[motmot]]s, [[bee-eater]]s, [[tody|todies]], [[Coraciidae|roller]]s, and [[ground-roller]]s.<ref name=ioc /> The name of the family was introduced (as Alcedia) by the French [[polymath]] [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] in 1815.<ref>{{cite book | last=Rafinesque | first=Constantine Samuel | author-link=Constantine Samuel Rafinesque | year=1815 | title=Analyse de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés | publisher=Self-published | place=Palermo | lang=fr | page=66 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310144 | access-date=21 February 2018 | archive-date=4 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204175200/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310144 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Bock|1994|pp=145, 252}} It is divided into three subfamilies, the [[tree kingfisher]]s (Halcyoninae), the [[river kingfishers]] (Alcedininae), and the [[water kingfisher]]s (Cerylinae).<ref name=ioc>{{cite web | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers | website=World Bird List |edition=Version&nbsp;7.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=28 May 2017 | archive-date=4 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004213031/http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The name Daceloninae is sometimes used for the tree kingfisher subfamily but it was introduced by [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte]] in 1841 while Halcyoninae introduced by [[Nicholas Aylward Vigors]] in 1825 is earlier and has priority.{{sfn|Bock|1994|p=118}} A few taxonomists elevate the three subfamilies to family status.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Sibley | first1=Charles G. | last2=Monroe | first2=Burt L., Jr | year=1990 | title=Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World | place=New Haven, CT | publisher=Yale University Press | isbn=978-0-300-04969-5 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last1=Christidis | first1=Les | last2=Boles | first2=Walter | year=2008 | title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds | place=Collingwood, VIC, Australia | publisher=CSIRO | isbn=978-0-643-09602-8 | pages=168–171 }}</ref> In spite of the word "kingfisher" in their English vernacular names, many of these birds are not specialist fish-eaters; none of the species in Halcyoninae are.{{sfn|Fry|Fry|Harris|1992|p=8}}

All kingfishers are placed in one family, Alcedinidae, and recent research suggests that this should be divided into three subfamilies.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} 

The scientific name is derived from Greek mythology and the ancient belief that the birds nested in the open sea and called them halkyons (Latin halcyon) from hals (sea) and kyon (born). In Greek mythology the gods gave the halkyons the ability to calm the waters when nesting. In Greek mythology, one of the [[Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades]] named Alcyone (Alcedo in Latin) married Ceyx who was killed in a shipwreck. Alcyone drowned herself in grief and the gods revived them both as kingfishers.<ref name=":0" />

The phylogenetic relationship between the kingfishers and the other five families that make up the order Coraciiformes is shown in the cladogram below.<ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Prum | first1=R.O. | author1-link=Richard Prum | last2=Berv | first2=J.S. | last3=Dornburg | first3=A. | last4=Field | first4=D.J. | last5=Townsend | first5=J.P. | last6=Lemmon | first6=E.M. | last7=Lemmon | first7=A.R. | year=2015 | title=A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing | journal=Nature | volume=526 | issue=7574 | pages=569–573 | doi=10.1038/nature15697 | pmid=26444237 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2015Natur.526..569P }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Kuhl | first1=H. | last2=Frankl-Vilches | first2=C. | last3=Bakker | first3=A. | last4=Mayr | first4=G. | last5=Nikolaus | first5=G. | last6=Boerno | first6=S.T. | last7=Klages | first7=S. | last8=Timmermann | first8=B. | last9=Gahr | first9=M. | date=2021 | title=An unbiased molecular approach using 3′-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life | journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume=38 | issue=1 | pages=108–127 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msaa191 | doi-access=free | pmid=32781465 | pmc=7783168 | hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-B72A-C | hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Stiller | first1=J. | display-authors=etal | year=2024 | title=Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes | journal=Nature | volume=629 | issue= 8013| pages=851–860 | doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 | doi-access=free | pmid=38560995 | pmc=11111414 | bibcode=2024Natur.629..851S }}</ref> The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by [[Frank Gill (ornithologist)|Frank Gill]], [[Pamela C. Rasmussen]] and David Donsker on behalf of the [[International Ornithological Committee]] (IOC).<ref>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=17 June 2024 }}</ref>
{{Clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%
|label1=[[Coraciiformes]]
|1={{clade
   |1={{clade
      |1=[[Meropidae]] – bee-eaters (31 species)
      |2={{clade
         |1=[[Brachypteraciidae]] – ground rollers (5 species)
         |2=[[Coraciidae]] – rollers (13 species)
         }}
      }}
   |2={{clade
      |1=[[Todidae]] – todies (5 species)
      |2={{clade
         |1=[[Momotidae]] – motmots (14 species)
         |2='''Alcedinidae''' – kingfishers (118 species)
         }}
      }}
   }}
}}

The centre of kingfisher diversity is the [[Australasian realm]], but the group originated in the [[Indomalayan realm|Indomalayan region]] around 27 million years ago (Mya) and invaded the Australasian realm a number of times.<ref name=andersen2017>{{ cite journal | last1=Andersen | first1=M.J. | last2=McCullough | first2=J.M. | last3=Mauck III | first3=W.M. | last4=Smith | first4=B.T. | last5=Moyle | first5=R.G. | year=2017 | title=A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands | journal=Journal of Biogeography | volume= 45| issue= 2| pages=1–13 | doi=10.1111/jbi.13139 | doi-access= }}</ref> [[Fossil]] kingfishers have been described from Lower [[Eocene]] rocks in [[Wyoming]] and Middle Eocene rocks in Germany, around 30–40&nbsp;Mya. More recent fossil kingfishers have been described in the Miocene rocks of Australia (5–25&nbsp;Mya). Several fossil birds have been erroneously ascribed to the kingfishers, including ''[[Halcyornis]]'', from the Lower Eocene rocks in [[Kent]], which has also been considered a [[gull]], but is now thought to have been a member of an extinct family.<ref name ="HBW" />

Amongst the three subfamilies, the Alcedininae are [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] to the other two subfamilies. The few species found in the Americas, all from the subfamily [[Cerylinae]], suggest that the sparse representation in the Western Hemisphere resulted from just two original colonising events. The subfamily is a comparatively recent split from the Halcyoninae, diversifying in the Old World as recently as the Miocene or Pliocene.<ref name="Moyle">{{cite journal | last=Moyle | first=Robert G | year=2006 | title=A molecular phylogeny of kingfishers (Alcedinidae) with insights into early biogeographic history | journal=Auk | volume=123 | issue=2 | pages=487–499 | doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[487:AMPOKA]2.0.CO;2 | hdl=1808/16596 | s2cid=84824051 | url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/16596/1/MoyleR_Auk_123%282%29487.pdf | hdl-access=free | access-date=24 October 2017 | archive-date=25 September 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925100139/https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/16596/1/MoyleR_Auk_123(2)487.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

The following cladogram is based on a [[molecular phylogenetic]] study published in 2017.<ref name=andersen2017/>
{{clade|style=font-size:90%;line-height:90%
|label1='''Alcedinidae'''
|1={{clade
   |label1=[[Alcedininae]]
   |1={{clade
      |1={{clade
         |1=''[[Ispidina]]'' – 2 species
         |2=''[[Corythornis]]'' – 4 species
         }}
      |2={{clade
        |1=''[[Alcedo]]'' – 7 species
        |2=''[[Ceyx (bird)|Ceyx]]'' – 21 species
        }}
      }}
   |2={{clade
      |label1=[[Cerylinae]]
      |1={{clade
         |1=''[[Megaceryle]]'' – 4 species
         |2={{clade
            |1=''[[Ceryle]]'' – pied kingfisher
            |2=''[[Chloroceryle]]'' – 4 species
            }}
         }}
      |label2=[[Halcyoninae]]
      |2={{clade
         |1={{clade
            |1=''[[Lacedo]]'' – banded kingfisher
            |2={{clade
               |1=''[[Pelargopsis]]'' – 3 species
               |2=''[[Halcyon (genus)|Halcyon]]'' – 12 species
               }}
            }}
         |2={{clade
            |1={{clade
               |1=''[[Cittura]]'' – 2 species (lilac kingfishers)
               |2=''[[Tanysiptera]]'' – 9 species (paradise kingfishers)
               }}
            |2={{clade
               |1={{clade
                  |1={{clade
                     |1=''[[Melidora]]'' – hook-billed kingfisher
                     |2=''[[Dacelo]]'' (includes ''[[Clytoceyx]]'') – 5 species (kookaburras)
                     }}
                  |2=''[[Actenoides]]'' (includes ''[[Caridonax]]'') – 6 species 
                  }}
               |2={{clade
                  |1=''[[Syma]]'' – 2 species
                  |2=''[[Todiramphus]]'' – 30 species
                  }}
               }}
            }}
         }}
      }}
   }}
}}