Racket-tailed Roller

The racket-tailed roller (Coracias spatulatus) is a species of bird in the family Coraciidae. It is found in southern Africa from Angola, south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Tanzania to northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. == Taxonomy and systematics == The racket-tailed roller was formally described in 1880 by the naturalist Roland Trimen under its current binomial name Coracias spatulatus from a specimen collected near the Zambezi River in southern Africa. The specific epithet spatulatus is Modern Latin meaning "spatulate" or "spoon-shaped". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the racket-tailed roller was most closely related to the purple roller (Coracias naevius). The phylogenetic relationships among the Coracias species are shown below, from the molecular study by Johansson et al. (2018) Alternate names for the racket-tailed roller include the Angola racket-tailed roller and Weigall's roller. == Description == The racket-tailed roller is so named for the conspicuous elongated outer feathers on its tail which have long streamers ending in paddle-shaped tips. The bird is 28 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) long with the streamers extending another 8 cm (3 in). The forehead and superciliary streak are…