Shining-blue Kingfisher

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