# Colius
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{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = ''Colius''
| image = Colius striatus1.jpg
| image_caption = [Speckled mousebird](/source/Speckled_mousebird), ''Colius striatus''
| taxon = Colius
| authority = [Brisson](/source/Mathurin_Jacques_Brisson), 1760
| type_species = ''[Loxia colius](/source/white-backed_mousebird)''
| type_species_authority = [Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus), 1766
| subdivision_ranks = [Species](/source/Species)
| subdivision =
''[Colius colius](/source/Colius_colius)''
''[Colius castanotus](/source/Colius_castanotus)''
''[Colius leucocephalus](/source/Colius_leucocephalus)''
''[Colius striatus](/source/Colius_striatus)''
}}
'''''Colius''''' is a [genus](/source/genus) of mousebirds in the [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)) [Coliidae](/source/Coliidae). The four species are widely distributed in Africa. Two other African mousebirds are placed in the genus ''[Urocolius](/source/Urocolius)''.
The genus ''Colius'' was introduced by the French zoologist [Mathurin Jacques Brisson](/source/Mathurin_Jacques_Brisson) in 1760 with the [white-backed mousebird](/source/white-backed_mousebird) (''Colius colius'') as the [type species](/source/type_species).[{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | language=French, Latin | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010434 Vol. 1, p. 36], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35953351 Vol. 3, p. 304] | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche }}][{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=143 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480154 }}]
The genus contains the following four species:[{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Mousebirds, trogons, Cuckoo Roller | work=World Bird List Version 9.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/mousebirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=2 April 2019 }}]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution
|-
|120px || ''Colius colius'' || [White-backed mousebird](/source/White-backed_mousebird) || southern Africa from Namibia and southern Botswana eastwards to Central Transvaal and the eastern Cape
|-
| frameless|143x143px|| ''Colius castanotus'' || [Red-backed mousebird](/source/Red-backed_mousebird) || Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
|-
|120px || ''Colius leucocephalus'' || [White-headed mousebird](/source/White-headed_mousebird) || southern Somalia and parts of Kenya with its range just extending into southern Ethiopia and northern Tanzania
|-
|120px || ''Colius striatus'' || [Speckled mousebird](/source/Speckled_mousebird) || Cameroon east to Eritrea and Ethiopia, south through eastern Africa to southern South Africa
|-
|}
A [fossil](/source/fossil) species, ''Colius hendeyi'', was described from [Early Pliocene](/source/Early_Pliocene) remains found at [Langebaanweg](/source/Langebaanweg) in [South Africa](/source/South_Africa).
Some [Miocene](/source/Miocene) [taxa](/source/taxa) from [France](/source/France) were previously assigned to ''Colius''. Of these, only the [Middle Miocene](/source/Middle_Miocene) ''"Colius" palustris'' might plausibly belong there,[Mlíkovský (2002)] but it is more often separated in ''Necrornis''. In younger lineages like [Passeriformes](/source/Passeriformes), extant genera (e.g. ''[Menura](/source/Menura)'' and ''[Orthonyx](/source/Orthonyx)'') were around by then, though simply because two taxa are of same [taxonomic rank](/source/taxonomic_rank), they do not need to be of the same age. All that can be said is that while it cannot be ruled out that the modern genus ''Colius'' was around in Miocene Europe, it more likely [evolve](/source/evolution)d later, and probably in [sub-Saharan Africa](/source/sub-Saharan_Africa).
''"Colius" archiaci'', ''"C." consobrinus'' and ''"C." paludicola'' on the other hand are 3 taxa described from fragmentary remains found at Saint-Gérand-le-Puy. Their [taxonomic](/source/Taxonomy_(biology)) history is convoluted, being initially described as [woodpecker](/source/woodpecker)s and variously merged and split. Today it is believed that they might all belong to a species in the modern genus ''[Urocolius](/source/Urocolius)'', or at least 2 into a prehistoric genus ''[Limnatornis](/source/Limnatornis)''.