Temporary Page
This is an archived version of a Tree of Life page. For up-to-date information, please refer to the current version of this page.

Alcedinidae

kingfishers

taxon links [down<--]Coraciiformes Monophyly Uncertain Monophyly Uncertain Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Bayesian consensus phylogeny of Alcedinidae genera from nuclear (RAG-1) and mtDNA (ND2) sequence data (Moyle, 2006).  Different relationships amongst reciprocally monophyletic subfamilies (Aledininae, Cerylinae, and Daceloninae) are found from morphological (Maurer and Raikow, 1981), DNA-DNA hybridization (Sibley and Ahlquist, 1990), and nuclear DNA sequence (Johansson and Ericson, 2003) data.
Containing group: Coraciiformes

References

Johansson, U. S., and P. G. P. Ericson. 2003. Molecular support for a sister group relationship between Pici and Galbulae (Piciformes sensu Wetmore 1960). Journal of Avian Biology 34: 185-197.

Maurer, D., and R. J. Raikow. 1981. Appendicular myology, phylogeny, and classification of the avian order Coraciiformes (including Trogoniformes). Annals of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 50: 417-434.

Moyle, R. G. 2006. A molecular phylogeny of kingfishers (Aledinidae) with insights into early biogeographic history. Auk 123: 487-499.

Sibley, C. G. and J. E. Ahlquist. 1990. Phylogeny and classification of birds: a study in molecular evolution. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Title Illustrations
Scientific Name Halcyon albiventris
Location East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania
Comments brown-hooded kingfisher
Acknowledgements Photograph courtesy InsectImages.org (#0011038)
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © Veli Pohjonen, East Usambara Conservation Area Management Programme
Scientific Name Ceryle rudis
Location Ranganathittu Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, India
Acknowledgements The copyright owner has released this image under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Creative Commons license.
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 2006 Ananda Debnath
Scientific Name Alcedo atthis
Location Turkey, Antalya, Titreyengol lake
Acknowledgements The copyright owner has released this image under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Creative Commons license.
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 2006 Sergey Yeliseev
About This Page
Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 2006. Alcedinidae. kingfishers. Version 06 June 2006 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Alcedinidae/26439/2006.06.06 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org

close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Alcedinidae

Page Content

articles & notes

Treehouses

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top