About Corythornis madagascariensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
The Madagascar pygmy kingfisher, scientifically named Corythornis madagascariensis, is a bird species belonging to the kingfisher family Alcedinidae. This species is endemic to Madagascar, where it occurs in western dry deciduous forests. Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish naturalist, gave the first formal description of this species in 1758, in the twelfth edition of his work Systema Naturae, under the original binomial name Alcedo madagascariensis. While the species was previously classified in the genera Ceyx and Ispidina, a molecular phylogenetic study examining its relationships with other regional kingfisher genera indicates that it is most appropriately placed in the genus Corythornis.
