Olive-capped coua

Olive-capped coua
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Genus: Coua
Species:
C. olivaceiceps
Binomial name
Coua olivaceiceps
(Sharpe, 1873)

The olive-capped coua (Coua olivaceiceps) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to southwest Madagascar.

The olive-capped coua was formally described in 1873 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe under the binomial name Sericosomus olivaceiceps. Sharpe specified the type locality as southwestern Madagascar. He had been sent a specimen by the French naturalist Alfred Grandidier.[2][3] The olive-capped coua is now one of ten species placed in the genus Coua, all of which are endemic to Madagascar.[4] The specific epithet olivaceiceps combines the Modern Latin olivaceus meaning "olive-coloured" with Latin -ceps meaning "capped".[5]

The olive-capped coua was formerly treated as a subspecies of the red-capped coua (Coua ruficeps). It was elevated to species status based on differences in plumage and vocalisation.[6][4]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Coua olivaceiceps". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22725447A94892696. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22725447A94892696.en. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  2. ^ Sharpe, Richard Bowdler (1873). "On the Cuculidae of the Ethiopian region". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 578–624 [615].
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 66.
  4. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. "olivaceiceps". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  6. ^ Dowsett-Lemaire, F. (2004). "Review: Oiseaux de Madagascar, Mayotte, Comoros, Seychelles, Réunion, Mauritius (Huguet & Chappuis 2003)". Bulletin of the African Bird Club. 11 (2): 161–164 [161].