# Courser

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Subfamily of birds

This article is about the bird. For other uses, see [Courser (disambiguation)](/source/Courser_(disambiguation)).

Courser Cream-coloured courser (Cursorius cursor) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Glareolidae Subfamily: Cursoriinae Genera Cursorius Rhinoptilus Smutsornis

The **coursers** are a subfamily **Cursoriinae** of [birds](/source/Bird) which, together with the [pratincoles](/source/Pratincole), make up the family [Glareolidae](/source/Glareolidae) in the order [Charadriiformes](/source/Charadriiformes). They have, compared to pratincoles, longer legs, shorter wings and longer pointed bills which curve downwards. They inhabit deserts and similar arid regions, and have cryptic plumage and crouch down when alarmed to avoid detection by predators.

Like the pratincoles, the coursers are found in warmer parts of the [Old World](/source/Old_World). They hunt insects by running.

Their 2–3 eggs are laid on the ground.

## Taxonomy

Although traditionally thought to be [waders](/source/Wader), particularly closely related to [plovers](/source/Plover),[1][2] genetic studies now classify the coursers and pratincoles in the suborder [Lari](/source/Lari_(bird)), more closely related to [gulls and terns](/source/Laridae), and closest of all to the [crab-plover](/source/Crab-plover).[3]

### Species

Nine species in three genera are accepted:[4]

- Genus *[Cursorius](/source/Cursorius)* - [Indian courser](/source/Indian_courser) *Cursorius coromandelicus* - [Temminck's courser](/source/Temminck's_courser) *Cursorius temminckii* - [Burchell's courser](/source/Burchell's_courser) *Cursorius rufus* - [Cream-coloured courser](/source/Cream-coloured_courser) *Cursorius cursor* - [Somali courser](/source/Somali_courser) *Cursorius somalensis*

- Genus *[Rhinoptilus](/source/Rhinoptilus)* - [Bronze-winged courser](/source/Bronze-winged_courser) or violet-tipped courser *Rhinoptilus chalcopterus* - [Three-banded courser](/source/Three-banded_courser) or Heuglin's courser *Rhinoptilus cinctus* - [Jerdon's courser](/source/Jerdon's_courser) *Rhinoptilus bitorquatus*

- Genus *[Smutsornis](/source/Smutsornis)* ([monotypic](/source/Monotypic) genus) - [Double-banded courser](/source/Double-banded_courser) or two-banded courser *Smutsornis africanus* (syn. *Rhinoptilus africanus*[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*])

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Cramp_1-0)** Cramp, Stanley (1983). *Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: Waders to gulls*. Oxford London New York: Oxford university press. pp. 84–85. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-857506-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-857506-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Hayman_2-0)** Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John; Prater, Tony (1986). *Shorebirds: An Identification Guide*. Croom Help. pp. 25, 70–73, 245–252. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7099-2034-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7099-2034-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Černý_3-0)** Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). ["Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)"](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1055790322002330). *Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution*. **177** 107620. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ympev.2022.107620). Retrieved 2025-11-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-IOC_4-0)** ["Sandpipers, snipes, Crab-plover, coursers – IOC World Bird List"](https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/sandpipers/). *IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2*. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-11-23.

Taxon identifiers Cursoriinae Wikidata: Q3007752 Wikispecies: Cursoriinae Paleobiology Database: 98949

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Courser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courser) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courser?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.