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13-514: M. maxima M. lugubris M. alcyon M. torquata Giant kingfisher Crested kingfisher Ringed kingfisher Belted kingfisher Megaceryle is a genus of very large kingfishers . They have a wide distribution in the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The genus was erected by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. The type species is a subspecies of the crested kingfisher , Megaceryle lugubris guttulata . Megaceryle

26-672: A specialist fish-eating alcedinid ancestor that crossed the Bering Strait and gave rise to this genus and the American green kingfishers Chloroceryle , with a large crested species later, in the Pliocene , crossing the Atlantic Ocean to give rise to the giant and crested kingfishers is probably wrong. Rather, it now seems that the genus probably originates in the Old World, possibly Africa, and

39-531: A youthful indiscretion, and on the publication of Darwin 's Origin of Species he declared himself against its doctrines. The extensive fossil deposits in the neighbourhood of Darmstadt gave him ample opportunities for palaeontological inquiries, and he gained considerable reputation by his Beiträge zur näheren Kenntniss der urweltlichen Säugethiere (1855–1862). He also wrote Classification der Säugethiere und Vögel (1844), and, with Heinrich Georg Bronn , Die Gavial-artigen Reste aus dem Lias (1842–1844). He

52-510: Is 11 cm (4.3 in) high and 15 cm (5.9 in) wide. The tunnel is typically 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length but a tunnel of 8.5 m (28 ft) has been recorded. A clutch of around three eggs is laid in a chamber at the end of the tunnel. This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught by diving from a perch. Johann Jakob Kaup He was born at Darmstadt . After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Leiden , where his attention

65-409: Is 42–46 cm (16.5–18 in) long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly. The forest race M. m. gigantea is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than the nominate race , but

78-557: Is from the Ancient Greek megas , "great", and the existing genus Ceryle . The genus comprises four species: [REDACTED] Male [REDACTED] Female [REDACTED] Male [REDACTED] Female [REDACTED] Male [REDACTED] Female [REDACTED] Male [REDACTED] Female All are specialist fish-eaters with prominent stiff crests on their heads. They have dark grey or bluish-grey upperparts, largely unmarked in

91-571: The ancestor of the belted and ringed kingfishers made the ocean crossing The Megaceryle kingfishers were formerly placed in Ceryle with the pied kingfisher , but the latter is genetically closer to the American green kingfishers. [REDACTED] Giant kingfisher The giant kingfisher ( Megaceryle maxima ) is the largest kingfisher in Africa , where it is a resident breeding bird over most of

104-606: The continent south of the Sahara Desert , other than the arid southwest. The first formal description of the giant kingfisher was by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1769 under the binomial name Alcedo maxima . The current genus Megaceryle was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. There are two subspecies: The nominate subspecies M. m. maxima occurs in wooded savanna while M. m. gigantea prefers tropical rainforest. The giant kingfisher

117-522: The tunnel, incubate the eggs, and feed the young. Megaceryle kingfishers are often seen perched prominently on trees, posts, or other suitable watch-points close to water before plunging in headfirst after their prey, usually fish , crustaceans , or frogs , but sometimes aquatic insects and other suitably sized animals. The previous view that the Megaceryle kingfishers arose in the New World from

130-512: The two American species, but heavily spotted with white in the Asian crested kingfisher and the African giant kingfisher. The underparts may be white or rufous, and all forms have a contrasting breast band except male ringed kingfisher. The underpart pattern is always different for the two sexes of each species. These birds nest in horizontal tunnels made in a river bank or sand bank. Both parents excavate

143-616: The two forms intergrade along the forest edge zone. The call is a loud wak wak wak . In South Africa breeding takes place between September and January, in Zimbabwe from August to March, in Zambia March to April and in Liberia December to January. The giant kingfisher is monogamous and a solitary breeder. The nest is a long horizontal tunnel that is excavated into a river bank by both sexes using their feet and bills. The entrance hole

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156-609: Was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1862. He died at Darmstadt. A particularly important incident in the history of paleontology involves Kaup. In 1854 he bought the American mastodon found in 1799 in Orange County, New York . This is the mastodon immortalized in Charles Willson Peale 's painting of the 1801 excavation (painting executed between 1806 and 1808). This mastodon

169-434: Was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. He then returned to Darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum, of which in 1840 he became inspector. In 1829 he published Skizze zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der europäischen Thierwelt , in which he regarded the animal world as developed from lower to higher forms, from the amphibians through the birds to the beasts of prey; but subsequently he repudiated this work as

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