About Alcedo quadribrachys Bonaparte, 1850
The shining-blue kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It occurs in tropical Africa. This species was described by French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850, who gave it its current binomial name Alcedo quadribrachys. The genus name Alcedo is the Latin word for "kingfisher". The specific epithet quadribrachys combines the Latin prefix quadri-, meaning "four", and brachium, meaning "arms" — in this case, referring to toes. The shining-blue kingfisher is one of seven species in the genus Alcedo, and it is most closely related to the half-collared kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata). Two subspecies are recognized: A. q. quadribrachys Bonaparte, 1850, found from Senegal and Gambia to west central Nigeria; and A. q. guentheri Sharpe, 1892, found from southern Nigeria to Kenya, northwest Zambia and north Angola.
