| Water kingfisher | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Alcedinidae |
| Subfamily: | Cerylinae Reichenbach, 1851 |
| Genera | |
| Phylogeny of the Cerylinae | |||
| |||
| Cladogram based on Andersenet al. (2017)[1] |
Thewater kingfishers orCerylinae are one of the threesubfamilies ofkingfishers, and are also known as thecerylid kingfishers. All sixAmerican species are in this subfamily.
These are all specialist fish-eating species, unlike many representatives of the other two subfamilies, and it is likely that they are all descended from fish-eating kingfishers which founded populations in theNew World. It was believed that the entire group evolved in the Americas, but this seems not to be true. The original ancestor possibly evolved inAfrica – at any rate in the Old World – and theChloroceryle species are the youngest ones.
Evidence frommolecular phylogenetic studies suggests that the Cerylinae originated in Asia and have colonised the New World on two occasions: the first time was around 8 million years ago by theChloroceryle and the second time was around 1.9 million years ago by the common ancestor of theringed kingfisher and thebelted kingfisher in the genusMegaceryle.[1]
The subfamily Cerylinae contains nine kingfisher species and is divided into three genera:[2]
| Image | Genus | Living species | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | MegaceryleKaup, 1848 |
| large crested kingfishers with a wide distribution in Africa, Asia and America. Thebelted kingfisher, (M. alcyon), is the only kingfisher that is widespread inNorth America, though theringed kingfisher (M. torquata) may be found as far north asTexas andArizona |
_female_2.jpg) | CeryleF. Boie, 1828 |
| the single species is widespread in the warm regions of theOld World northwards toTurkey andChina. |
_male.jpg) | ChloroceryleKaup, 1848 |
| the fourAmerican green kingfishers of tropical America |