Ceyx (bird)


Ceyx is an Old World genus of river kingfishers. These kingfishers are found from South East Asia to the Solomon Islands.
The genus was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. The type species is the oriental dwarf kingfisher.
A molecular phylogenetic study of the alcedinine kingfishers published in 2007 found that the genera as then defined did not form monophyletic groups. The species were subsequently rearranged into four monophyletic genera. The little kingfisher, azure kingfisher, Bismarck kingfisher, silvery kingfisher and Indigo-banded kingfisher were moved from Alcedo to Ceyx. All except one of the birds in the reconstituted genus have three rather than the usual four toes. The exception is the Sulawesi dwarf kingfisher which retains a vestigial fourth toe.
The Moluccan dwarf kingfisher was previous named the variable dwarf kingfisher and included 15 recognised subspecies. A genetic study published in 2013 found that most of the subspecies had substantially diverged from one another. The species was therefore split and 12 of the subspecies were promoted to species status. At the same time the name was changed from the variable dwarf kingfisher to the Moluccan dwarf kingfisher.
The two African species in the genus Ispidina were sometimes placed in this genus. Compared to the related species in the genus Alcedo they are more terrestrial.
There are 22 or 23 species in the genus: