Double-banded courser

{{short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Double-banded Courser (Rhinoptilus africanus) (32164705414).jpg | image_caption = In [[Mountain Zebra National Park]], Eastern Cape, South Africa | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author1=[[BirdLife International]] |year=2016 |title=''Smutsornis africanus'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22694091A93438298 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22694091A93438298.en |access-date=13 October 2024}}</ref> | genus = Smutsornis | parent_authority= [[Austin Roberts (zoologist)|Roberts]], 1922 | species = africanus | authority = ([[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]], 1807) |synonyms = ''Rhinoptilus africanus'' }}

The '''double-banded courser''' ('''''Smutsornis africanus'''''), also known as the '''two-banded courser''', is a species of [[bird]] in the family [[Glareolidae]]. It was formerly placed in the genus ''[[Rhinoptilus]]'' but is now the only species placed in the genus '''''Smutsornis'''''.

==Taxonomy== The double-banded courser was [[species description|formally described]] in 1807 as ''Cursorius africanus'' by the Dutch zoologist [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck]]. The specimen had been collected by [[François Levaillant]] in [[Namaqualand]] on the west coast of southern Africa.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Temminck | first=Coenraad Jacob | author-link=Coenraad Jacob Temminck | year=1807 | title=Catalogue systématique du cabinet d'ornithologie et de la collection de quadrumanes | language=French, Latin | location=Amsterdam | publisher=Chez C. Sepp Jansz | pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B2wdAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA175 175], [https://books.google.com/books?id=B2wdAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA263 263-264] }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=302 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483115 }}</ref> This species was formerly placed in the genus ''[[Rhinoptilus]]''. A 2022 molecular genetic study by David Cerný and Rossy Natale found that the double-banded courser [[genetic divergence|diverged genetically]] from the other species in ''Rhinoptilus''.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Černý | first1=David | last2=Natale | first2=Rossy | date=2022 | title=Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=177 | article-number=107620 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620}}</ref> The species was therefore moved to the resurrected genus ''Smutsornis'' that had been introduced in 1922 by South African zoologist [[Austin Roberts (zoologist)|Austin Roberts]].<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Roberts | first=Austin | author-link=Austin Roberts (zoologist) | date=1922 | title=Review of the nomenclature of South African birds | journal=Annals of the Transvaal Museum | volume=8 | issue=4 | pages=187-272 [202] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50414731 }}</ref><ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=7 November 2025 }}</ref> The genus name combines the name of the South African politician [[Jan Smuts]] with the [[Ancient Greek]] ορνις/''ornis'', ορνιθος/''ornithos'' meaning "bird".<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=Smutsornis | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Smutsornis | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=7 November 2025 }}</ref>

Eight [[subspecies]] are recognised:<ref name=avilist/> * ''S. a. raffertyi'' ([[Edgar Alexander Mearns|Mearns, EA]], 1915) – [[Eritrea]] to Ethiopia and Djibouti * ''S. a. hartingi'' ([[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe, RB]], 1893) – southeastern Ethiopia (Ogaden Depression) and Somalia * ''S. a. gracilis'' ([[Gustav Fischer (explorer)|Fischer, GA]] & [[Anton Reichenow|Reichenow, A]], 1884) – Kenya and Tanzania * ''S. a. bisignatus'' ([[Gustav Hartlaub|Hartlaub, KJG]], 1865) – southwestern Angola * ''S. a. erlangeri'' ([[Günther Niethammer|Niethammer, GT]] & [[Hans Edmund Wolters|Wolters, HE]], 1966) – northwestern Namibia (Etosha region) * ''S. a. traylori'' ([[Michael Patrick Stuart Irwin|Irwin, MPS]], 1963) – northwestern Botswana (Makgadikgadi system) and western Zimbabwe * ''S. a. africanus'' ([[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck, CJ]], 1807) – Namibia (except northwest), western and southern Botswana, and northwestern South Africa (northern Northern Cape) * ''S. a. granti'' ([[William Lutley Sclater|Sclater, WL]], 1921) – western [[Cape Province]] and Karoo of South Africa

==Description== [[File:Double-banded courser (two-banded courser), Smutsornis africanus, at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Botswana (33875333296).jpg|thumb|left|At the [[Khama Rhino Sanctuary]], Botswana]] The bird's crown is pale and streaked with brown/black feathers. A narrow black stripe extends from the base of the bill, through the eye to the nape. The cheeks, chin, throat and neck are buff/white flecked with dark brown. The feather of the back and wing coverts are sandy brown with dark centres and broadly edged with white/buff. The short bill is blackish, eyes are dark brown and the legs and feet are pale grey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Project Noah|url=http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/23753050}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat== The double-banded courser is found in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania. The bird is widespread enough to have practically no chance of becoming [[endangered]] or [[extinct]].<ref name = "birdlife">{{cite web|title=Bird Life|url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3179}}</ref> The double-banded courser lives and breeds in flat, stony or gravelly, [[semi-desert]] terrains with firm, sandy soil and tufty [[grass]] or thorn scrub.<ref name=WorldBirdInfo>{{cite web|title=Rhinoptilus africanus|url=http://worldbirdinfo.net/Pages/BirdProfileView.aspx?BirdID=32966&Source=%2FPages%2FBirdsSearch%2Easpx%3FBirdField%3D6%26BirdSearch%3DGLAREOLIDAE%2528Cursoriinae%2529%253ACoursers|work=World Bird Info|access-date=7 June 2013}}</ref>

==Behaviour== ===Breeding=== Double-banded coursers breed in [[monogamy in animals|monogamous]] pairs. Breeding begins after a mating dance where the male dances in semicircles around the female. The female then lays one egg, which the parents take hour-long shifts [[Egg incubation|incubating]]; the egg hatches after about twenty-five days.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rhinoptilus africanus (Double-banded courser)|url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/glareolidae/rhinoptilus_africanus.htm|work=Biodiversity Explorer|access-date=10 June 2013|archive-date=18 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318175230/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/glareolidae/rhinoptilus_africanus.htm}}</ref> The chicks leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching, although staying close to the nest until 3–4 days old, at which point it joins its parents. Both adults feed the chick with small insects until it becomes self-providing at about 5–6 weeks old.

The breeding season varies by country:<ref>{{cite web|title=Double-banded Courser|url=http://worldbirdinfo.net/Pages/BirdProfileView.aspx?BirdID=32966&Source=%2FPages%2FBirdsSearch%2Easpx%3FBirdField%3D6%26BirdSearch%3DGLAREOLIDAE%2528Cursoriinae%2529%253ACoursers|work=WorldBirdInfo.net|access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref>

Ethiopia - April–June; Somalia - February–July (mainly May–June); Tanzania - November; South Africa - all year, peaking in October–November.

===Feeding=== The bird eats mostly insects, such as [[ants]], [[termites]], and [[beetles]]. <ref name="biodiversity explorer">{{cite web|title=Rhinoptilus africanus (Double-banded courser)|url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/glareolidae/rhinoptilus_africanus.htm|work=biodiversity explorer|access-date=7 June 2013|archive-date=18 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318175230/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/glareolidae/rhinoptilus_africanus.htm}}</ref> It catches its prey by quickly running after it and jabbing with its bill. [[File:RhinoptilusHartingiKeulemans.jpg|thumb|right|''R. a. hartingi'']]

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == *{{Commons category-inline|Rhinoptilus africanus}} *[http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/grzimek_birds/Glareolidae/Smutsornis_africanus.jpg/view.html Image at ADW] * Double-banded courser - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/301.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]. *[https://thebdi.org/2023/01/23/double-banded-courser/ Double-banded courser] Structured guide to the species in southern Africa

[[Category:Birds of East Africa]] [[Category:Birds of Southern Africa]] [[Category:Birds described in 1807|double-banded courser]] [[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]] [[Category:Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck]]