{{short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Lesser Coucal 0A2A6107.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |title=''Centropus bengalensis'' |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year=2016 |article-number=e.T22684254A93021566 |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref> | genus = Centropus | species = bengalensis | authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1788) | synonyms = | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision = See text }}
The '''lesser coucal''' ('''''Centropus bengalensis''''') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution range that overlaps with several other similar species. The habitat in which it is found is often marshy land with grass and tree cover. It is distinguished by its smaller size, less prominent bill, pale shaft streaks on the feathers of the head and back. It has a much longer claw on its hind toe and a distinct call. It is also among the few coucals that show season plumage differences but like in other coucals, the sexes cannot be distinguished in the field.
==Taxonomy== The lesser coucal was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus ''Cuculus'' and coined the binomial name ''Cuculus bengalensis''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=412 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2897012 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "lark-heeled cuckoo" from Bengal that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Brown | first=Peter | author-link=Peter Brown (naturalist) | date=1776 | title=Nouvelles illustrations de zoologie: contenant cinquante planches enlumineés d'oiseaux curieux, et qui non etés jamais descrits, et quelques de quadrupedes, de reptiles et d'insectes, avec de courtes descriptions systematiques | trans-title=New illustrations of zoology, containing fifty coloured plates of new, curious, and non-descript birds, with a few quadrupeds, reptiles and insects | location=London | publisher=Imprimé pour B. White | page=26, Plate 13 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27845794 }}</ref> The lesser coucal is now one of around 30 species placed in the genus ''Centropus'' that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Illiger | first=Johann Karl Wilhelm | author-link=Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger | year=1811 | title=Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium | language=Latin | location=Berolini [Berlin] | publisher=Sumptibus C. Salfeld | page=205 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29301175 }}</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=January 2022 | title=Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/turacos/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=13 August 2022}}</ref> The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''kentron'' meaning "spur" or "spike" with ''pous'' meaning "foot".<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=96 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n96/mode/1up }}</ref>
Six subspecies are recognised: * ''C. b. bengalensis'' (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – India and Nepal to Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina * ''C. b. lignator'' Swinhoe, 1861 – south, southeast China, Hainan and Taiwan * ''C. b. javanensis'' Dumont, 1818 – Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Riau and Lingga Island (east of central Sumatra), Bangka and Belitung (east of south Sumatra), Java, Borneo, Palawan group and Sulu Archipelago (southwest, south Philippines) * ''C. b. philippinensis'' Mees, 1971 – Philippines (except Palawan group and Sulu Archipelago) Sometimes included in ''javanensis''.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Mees | first=G.F. | date=1971 | title=The Philippine subspecies of ''Centropus bengalensis'' (Gmelin) (Aves, Cuculidae) | journal=Zoologische Mededelingen Uitgegeven Door Het Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historiete Leiden | volume=45 | pages=189–191 | url=https://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/150535 }}</ref><ref name=hbw>{{ cite book | last=Payne | first=R.B. | year=1997 | chapter=Lesser coucal | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-87334-22-1 | page=590 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0004unse/page/590/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref> * ''C. b. sarasinorum'' Stresemann, 1912 – Sulawesi, Sangihe and Talaud Islands (north of northeast Sulawesi) and Lesser Sunda Islands * ''C. b. medius'' Bonaparte, 1850 – Moluccas (except Kai Islands, southeast Moluccas)
In the past, this species was lumped along with the Malagasy coucal (''Centropus toulou'') but comparison of DNA sequences suggest that the lesser coucal is more closely related to the black coucal (''Centropus grillii'') and Philippine coucal (''Centropus viridis'') than to any other relatives.<ref name=payne /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Parkes | first=Kenneth C.|year=1957| title=Taxonomic notes on the Lesser Coucal, ''Centropus bengalensis''|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=77|pages=115–116 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40591547 }}</ref>
==Description== thumb|Subspecies ''javanensis'' in Taman Negara, Malaysia This slightly smaller-sized and shorter-billed coucal has a very long hind claw, the longest within the genus. The overall plumage, as in many other coucals, is of a blackish bird with a long tail and rufous wings. They have two plumages, a breeding plumage in which the head and upper back are glossy with dark shafts to the feather and a duller non-breeding plumage in which the feather shafts on the head and back are whitish. The wing coverts also have pale shafts showing as whitish streaks on the brown feathers. The central upper tail coverts are barred and very long. The iris is darker brown and not the crimson red as in the greater coucal. Juveniles have black spots, bars and have a browner colour.<ref name=pcr/> The calls of the lesser coucal include a series of low double "whoot-woot" or "kurook" notes that increase in tempo and descend in pitch. The Indonesian name of ''dudut'' is onomatopoeic.<ref name=payne/>
thumb|Call recorded in southern India (April) The species is widely distributed west from the Indian subcontinent (but not in Sri Lanka<ref name=pcr /> despite an old report of a skin of doubtful provenance<ref>{{cite journal|last=Butler | first=A.L. | year=1897 | title=On the occurrence of the Lesser Coucal (''Centropus bengalensis'', Blyth) in Ceylon| journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society | volume=11| issue=1|page=162|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30156865 }}</ref>) extending east across Southeast Asia. Slight differences in size and plumage are noted in different parts of their range and several subspecies have been designated. The nominate form is found from India to Thailand. Subspecies ''lignator'' is larger and found in southeastern China and Taiwan. Subspecies ''javanensis'' is smaller and found across the larger islands along the Malay Peninsula extending east to the Philippines. Some island forms are larger and these include ''sarasinorum'' and found on Sulawesi, the Sula Islands, Lesser Sundas and Timor. The form on the Moluccas, ''medius'' is the largest. Some other subspecies like ''philippinensis'' from the Philippines and ''chamnongi'' from Thailand<ref>{{cite journal | last=Deignan | first=H.G. | year=1955 | title= Four new races of birds from East Asia | journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington | volume=68 | pages=145–148 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34549629 }}</ref> are not always recognized and are thought to form either variants or intermediate plumages.<ref name=payne>{{cite book|title=The Cuckoos | last=Payne | first=R.B. |year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-850213-5 | pages=250–254}}</ref> The population patchily distributed<ref>{{cite journal | last=Philip | first=V. | year=1993| title=Occurrence of the Lesser Crow-Pheasant ''Centropus tolou'' in Neyyar |journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers | volume=33 |issue=5|pages=93–94|url=https://archive.org/stream/NLBW33_5#page/n14/mode/1up}}</ref> in the Western Ghats of southern India may constitute a distinct subspecies.<ref name=pcr />
==Behaviour and ecology== The lesser coucal is found singly or in pairs low in the undergrowth in marshy or grassy areas adjoining forest. They appear to be found mainly in lowlands. Like other coucals, they are not brood-parasitic cuckoos. They nest from May to September but mainly after the rains in June in India, building a dome of grass blades on a low tree.<ref name=pcr>{{cite book|first1=Pamela C.|last1=Rasmussen|first2=J.C.|last2=Anderton| year=2005| title=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2.|publisher= Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions|place=Washington D.C. and Barcelona | isbn=978-84-96553-87-3 |pages=223–224}}</ref> The usual clutch is 3 eggs in India, 2 in Southeast Asia and 4 in Taiwan. Both sexes incubate the eggs and care for the young.<ref name=hbw/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
<!-- Jha,Samiran (2000) A note on the feeding of Lesser Coucal (''Centropus toulou''). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 97(1):144. said to feed on fish dropped by a nesting lesser adjutant but identification characters mentioned raise doubts -->
{{Commons}} {{Wikispecies|Centropus bengalensis}}
==External links== * Lesser coucal - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/388.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds].
{{Taxonbar|from=Q653049}}
lesser coucal Category:Birds of South India Category:Birds of Eastern Himalaya Category:Birds of Bangladesh Category:Birds of Indomalaya Category:Articles containing video clips lesser coucal lesser coucal Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot