{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Tauraco persa -captive-8a.jpg | image_caption = | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Tauraco persa'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22688312A93192041 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22688312A93192041.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Tauraco | species = persa | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | range_map = Guinea_Turaco.png | range_map_caption = Distribution of the Guinea turaco | synonyms = ''Cuculus persa'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}} }}
The '''Guinea turaco''' ('''''Tauraco persa'''''), also known as the '''green turaco''' or '''green lourie''', is a species of turaco, a group of African otidimorph birds. It formerly included the Livingstone's, Schalow's, Knysna, black-billed and Fischer's turacos as subspecies.
==Taxonomy== The Guinea turaco was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it together with the cuckoos in the genus ''Cuculus'' and coined the binomial name ''Cuculus persa''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=111 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727016 }}</ref> The specific epithet is Latin meaning "Persian".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=299 }}</ref> Linnaeus based his description on the "Touraco" that had been described and illustrated in 1743 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. Edwards's specimen had been brought to London from Guinea in West Africa.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Edwards | first=George | author-link=George Edwards (naturalist) | year=1743 | title=A Natural History of Uncommon Birds | location=London | publisher=Printed for the author at the College of Physicians | volume=Part I | page=7, Plate 7 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50240515 }}</ref> The Guinea turaco is now placed in the genus ''Tauraco'' that was introduced in 1779 by the Polish naturalist Jan Krzysztof Kluk.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Kluk | first=Krzysztofa | author-link=Jan Krzysztof Kluk | date=1779 | title=Zwierzat domowych i dzikich, osobliwie kraiowych. Historyi naturalney poczatki i gospodarstwo. Tom. II. Z figurami. O ptastwie | language=Polish | location=Warsaw | publisher=Drukarni J. K. Mości i Rzeczypospolitey u XX. Scholarum Piarum | page=25 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZs5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/turacos/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=3 July 2021 }}</ref>
Three subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc/> *''T. p. buffoni'' (Vieillot, 1819) – Senegambia to Liberia *''T. p. persa'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Ivory Coast and Ghana to west Cameroon *''T. p. zenkeri'' Reichenow, 1896 – south Cameroon, west Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, north Angola, Congo and northwest DRCongo
thumb|right|''T. persa buffoni'' is the only subspecies without a white line below the eye.
==Description== The Guinea turaco, often inconspicuous in the treetops, is approximately {{cvt|40|-|43|cm}} long, including a long tail. The weight can reach {{cvt|225|-|290|g}}.<ref name=hand/> The plumage is largely brilliant green and blue, with the green color coming from the pigment turacoverdin; the tail and wings are dark purplish, except for the crimson primary feathers that are very distinct in flight. On the head is present an erectile semi-circular green crest. On the eyes there are red and white patches. The bill is thick and red. In the westernmost subspecies ''Tauraco persa buffoni'', which sometimes is known as the Buffon's turaco, there is a white line above and in front of the eye and a black line below the eye. In the nominate subspecies (''Tauraco persa persa'') of the central part of its range and ''zenkeri'' of the southeastern part there also is a second white line below the black line. Unlike similar turacos with red bills, even adult Guinea turacos lack a white rear edge to the crest.
The Guinea turaco has a loud ''cawr-cawr'' call, consisting of 10–16 raucous cawing notes.<ref name=hand/>
==Distribution and habitat== Guinea turaco has an extremely large range and a stable population.<ref>[http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22688312 Bird Life International]</ref> It can be found in forests of West and Central Africa, ranging from Senegal east to DR Congo and south to northern Angola. It is present in the Republic of the Congo, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.<ref name = biolib>[https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id136361/ Biolib]</ref><ref name = hand>del Hoyo J., Elliott A., Sargatal J., Christie D.A. & de Juana E. (eds.).: [https://www.hbw.com/species/green-turaco-tauraco-persa Handbook of the Birds of the Words] Lynx Edicions, Barcelona</ref>
This species inhabits subtropical and tropical moist lowland, gallery forests<ref name=hand/> and tropical rain forests edge, often near cultivated areas. It is common in climax forest with plentiful tall trees, from sea level to about {{cvt|1100|m}}.
==Behaviour and ecology== thumb|220px|right|Video clip ''Tauraco persa'' is normally sedentary and strongly territorial. These birds feed on wide variety of wild and cultivated tropical fruits (for instance on Musanga, Macaranga, Rauvolfia, Cissus and Ficus species, etc.), but also on blossoms.<ref name=hand/> They do not fly very well, preferring to climb from branch to branch.
They breed in May–June and August in Cameroon, from December to February and from June to September in Gabon, while in Sierra Leone they breed in June and in October.<ref name=hand/> Females lay two eggs in a tree platform nest.<ref name=hand/>
== See also ==
* {{Portal-inline|Birds}}
== References == {{Reflist}} * ''Birds of The Gambia'' by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, {{ISBN|1-873403-32-1}} * ''Birds of Africa South of the Sahara'' by Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan {{ISBN|0691118159}} * ''Birds of Western Africa'' by Nick Borrow and Ron Demey {{ISBN|0713666927}}
==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wikispecies}} * [https://www.hbw.com/ibc/species/green-turaco-tauraco-persa IBC The Internet Bird Collection] * [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/7200-Tauraco-persa iNaturalist] * [https://www.beautyofbirds.com/greenturacos.html Beauty of Birds] {{Turacos}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q641880}}
Category:Tauraco Category:Turacos Category:Birds of West Africa Category:Birds described in 1758 Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Articles containing video clips