Indochinese roller

{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{speciesbox | name = Indochinese roller | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Coracias affinis'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22725924A94906187 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22725924A94906187.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | image = Coracias affinis - Kaeng Krachan.jpg | image_caption = from Thailand | genus = Coracias | species = affinis | authority = Horsfield, 1840 | synonyms = |range_map =File:Coracias affinis dist.png }}

The '''Indochinese roller''' ('''''Coracias affinis''''') or '''Burmese roller''', is a member of the roller bird family. It occurs widely from Nepal, eastern India to Myanmar and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" />

==Taxonomy== The Indochinese roller was formally described in 1840 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield under the binomial name ''Coracias affinis'' based on specimens that had been collected in Assam by the naturalist John McClelland.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Horsfield | first=Thomas | author-link=Thomas Horsfield | title=List of Mammalia and Birds collected in Assam by John McClelland, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon in the service of the East-India Company, Bengal Establishment, Member of the late Deputation which was sent into that country for the purpose of investigating the nature of the Tea Plant | journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | volume=Part 7 | pages=146-167 [164] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30571407 }} Although the volume is date 1839, the article was not published until 1840.</ref> The specific epithet ''affinis'' is from Latin ''adfinis'' or ''affinis'' meaning "related" or "allied".<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=35 }}</ref>

McClelland has sometimes been credited as the authority but under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Horsfield now receives the credit.<ref>{{ 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 | pages=243–244 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480254 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Dickinson | first1=E.C. | last2=Walters | first2=M.P. | year=2003 | title=Systematic notes on Asian birds. 38. The McClelland drawings and a reappraisal of the 1835-36 survey of the birds of Assam | journal=Zoologische Verhandelingen | volume=344 | pages=63–106 | url=https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/220222/ZV344_063-106.pdf }}</ref> The Indochinese roller was formerly considered as a subspecies of the Indian roller because of a narrow hybrid zone in northeast India but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the Indochinese roller was more closely related to the purple-winged roller (''Coracias temminckii'') than it is to the Indian roller.<ref name=johansson18/> The Indochinese roller is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<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=January 2021 | title=Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=27 April 2021 }}</ref>

It is a stocky bird. The crown and vent are blue. The primaries are deep purplish blue with a band of pale blue. The tail is sky blue with a terminal band of Prussian blue and the central feathers are dull green. The neck and throat are purplish lilac with white shaft streaks. The bare patch around the eye is ochre in colour. The three forward toes are united at the base.<ref name=pcr>{{ cite book | last1=Rasmussen | first1=Pamela C. | author1-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | last2=Anderton | first2=John C. | year=2012 | title=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide | volume=2: Attributes and Status | edition=2nd | publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions | place=Washington D.C. and Barcelona | isbn=978-84-96553-87-3 | page=270 }}</ref> Rollers have a long and compressed bill with a curved upper edge and a hooked tip. The nostril is long and exposed and there are long rictal bristles at the base of the bill.<ref name=whistler>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/popularhandbooko033226mbp#page/n342/mode/1up/ |author=Whistler, Hugh |year=1949|title=Popular Handbook of Indian Birds|pages=293–295|edition=4th| publisher=Gurney and Jackson, London}}</ref> It has a purplish brown and unstreaked face and breast.<ref name=pcr/> It has underwing coverts in a deep shade of blue.<ref name=hbk>{{cite book| last1=Ali | first1=S. | last2=Ripley | first2=S.D.| year= 1983 | title=Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan |edition=2nd | publisher=Oxford University Press | volume= 4 | pages =116–120 }}</ref>

== Distribution and habitat == The Indochinese roller is distributed across Asia, from eastern India into Southeast Asia.<ref name=hbk/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Indochinese roller Category:Birds of Indochina Category:Birds of Northeast India Category:Birds of Myanmar Indochinese roller Category:Coracias