Coucal
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Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Subfamily: Centropodinae

[Photo] Senegal Coucal, Centropus senegalensis. Le parc forestier de Hann, near Dakar, Senegal. Date: Taken on January 13, 2007. Author: ThomHasi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ThomHasi).

Copyright (C) 2007 Thom Hasi Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

A coucal is one of about 30 species of birds in the cuckoo family. All of them belong in the subfamily Centropodinae and the genus Centropus. Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites. On the other hand they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are to varying degrees sex-role reversed so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care. At least one coucal species, the Black Coucal, is polyandrous.(Andersson 1995) Recent DNA evidence suggests that they should be raised to family status, as Centropodidae.

Species

Bay Coucal, Centropus celebensis
Rufous Coucal, Centropus unirufus
Black-faced Coucal, Centropus melanops
Sunda Coucal, Centropus nigrorufus
Buff-headed Coucal, Centropus milo
Goliath Coucal, Centropus goliath
Violaceous Coucal, Centropus violaceus
Greater Black Coucal, Centropus menbeki
Pied Coucal, Centropus ateralbus
Pheasant Coucal, Centropus phasianinus
- Timor Pheasant Coucal, Centropus phasianinus mui - extinct? (late 20th century?)
Kai Coucal, Centropus spilopterus
Lesser Black Coucal, Centropus bernsteini
Biak Coucal, Centropus chalybeus
Short-toed Coucal, Centropus rectunguis
Black-hooded Coucal, Centropus steerii
Greater Coucal, Centropus sinensis
Brown Coucal, Centropus andamanensis
Philippine Coucal, Centropus viridis
Madagascar Coucal, Centropus toulou
- Aldabra Coucal, Centropus toulou insularis
- Assumption Island Coucal, Centropus toulou assumptionis - doubtfully distinct; extinct (c.1920s)
Black Coucal, Centropus grillii
Green-billed Coucal, Centropus chlororhynchus
Lesser Coucal, Centropus bengalensis
Black-throated Coucal, Centropus leucogaster
Gabon Coucal, Centropus anselli
Blue-headed Coucal, Centropus monachus
Coppery-tailed Coucal, Centropus cupreicaudus
Senegal Coucal, Centropus senegalensis
White-browed Coucal, Centropus superciliosus
Burchell's Coucal, Centropus burchelli
Centropus collosus known from the quaternary Green Waterhole Cave, Tantanoola, South Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coucal

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