Courser

{{Short description|Subfamily of birds}} {{About|the bird|other uses|Courser (disambiguation)}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) Tal Chhapar, Churu, Rajasthan, India February 15th, 2013.jpg | image_caption = Cream-coloured courser <br />(''Cursorius cursor'') | taxon = Cursoriinae | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = ''Cursorius''<br /> ''Rhinoptilus''<br /> ''Smutsornis'' }}

The '''coursers''' are a subfamily '''Cursoriinae''' of birds which, together with the pratincoles, make up the family Glareolidae in the order 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. They hunt insects by running.

Their 2–3 eggs are laid on the ground.

==Taxonomy== Although traditionally thought to be waders, particularly closely related to plovers,<ref name="Cramp">{{cite book | last=Cramp | first=Stanley | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: Waders to gulls | publisher=Oxford university press | publication-place=Oxford London New York | date=1983 | isbn=0-19-857506-8 | pages=84–85}}</ref><ref name=Hayman>{{cite book |title=Shorebirds: An Identification Guide |last1=Hayman |first1=Peter |last2=Marchant |first2=John |last3=Prater |first3=Tony |year=1986 |publisher=Croom Help |isbn=0-7099-2034-2 |pages=25, 70–73, 245–252}}</ref> genetic studies now classify the coursers and pratincoles in the suborder Lari, more closely related to gulls and terns, and closest of all to the crab-plover.<ref name="Černý">{{cite journal | last1=Černý | first1=David | last2=Natale | first2=Rossy | title=Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=177 | date=2022 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620 | article-number=107620 | url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1055790322002330 | access-date=2025-11-23| url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Species=== Nine species in three genera are accepted:<ref name="IOC">{{cite web | title=Sandpipers, snipes, Crab-plover, coursers – IOC World Bird List | website=IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2 | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/sandpipers/ | access-date=2025-11-23}}</ref> * Genus ''Cursorius'' **Indian courser ''Cursorius coromandelicus'' **Temminck's courser ''Cursorius temminckii '' **Burchell's courser ''Cursorius rufus'' **Cream-coloured courser ''Cursorius cursor'' **Somali courser ''Cursorius somalensis''

* Genus ''Rhinoptilus'' **Bronze-winged courser or violet-tipped courser ''Rhinoptilus chalcopterus'' **Three-banded courser or Heuglin's courser ''Rhinoptilus cinctus'' **Jerdon's courser ''Rhinoptilus bitorquatus''

* Genus ''Smutsornis'' (monotypic genus) **Double-banded courser or two-banded courser ''Smutsornis africanus'' (syn. ''Rhinoptilus africanus''{{cn|date=November 2025}})

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Glareolidae