Todiramphus

Todiramphus is a genus of kingfishers in the subfamily Halcyoninae that are endemic to the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and many islands in the South Pacific.
Taxonomy
The genus was introduced by the French surgeon and naturalist René Lesson in 1827. The name is often spelt Todirhamphus (with rh), but Todiramphus is the original valid spelling. The name literally means "tody-bill"; tody is a relative of the kingfishers with a similar slender long bill, and the Greek means "beak" or "bill".
In 1945 James Peters in his Check-list of Birds of the World placed these species in an enlarged genus Halcyon. Hilary Fry did the same in his 1992 monograph on kingfishers, but in 2001 Peter Woodall in the Handbook of the Birds of the World chose to place these Pacific flat-billed species in the resurrected genus Todiramphus. This decision was vindicated by a molecular study published in 2006 that found that the enlarged Halcyon was not monophyletic.
There are now around 30 extant species in the genus but the genus formerly contained fewer species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 found that some of the polytypic species were paraphyletic. To create monophyletic groups, some of the subspecies were promoted to species status. The most extreme case was that of the collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) that was split into six species: the Pacific kingfisher, the Islet kingfisher, the Torresian kingfisher, the collared kingfisher, the Mariana kingfisher and the Melanesian kingfisher.
The range of the genus extends from the Philippines in the west to French Polynesia in the east, with the greatest diversity in Australasia.
Description
Members of Todiramphus are medium-sized kingfishers with flattened beaks. They are typically blue or blue-green above with pale underparts. They often have a pale collar and stripe over the eye. Many species are commonly found well away from water and feed largely on terrestrial animals such as insects and lizards. The nest is built in a cavity, most often in a tree.
Species
The genus contains 30 species:
Blue-black kingfisher, Todiramphus nigrocyaneus
Winchell's kingfisher, Todiramphus winchelli
Blue-and-white kingfisher, Todiramphus diops
Lazuli kingfisher, Todiramphus lazuli
Forest kingfisher, Todiramphus macleayii
White-mantled kingfisher, Todiramphus albonotatus
Ultramarine kingfisher, Todiramphus leucopygius
Vanuatu kingfisher, Todiramphus farquhari
Sombre kingfisher, Todiramphus funebris
Collared kingfisher, Todiramphus chloris
Torresian kingfisher, Todiramphus sordidus – split from T. chloris
Islet kingfisher, Todiramphus colonus – split from T. chloris
Mariana kingfisher, Todiramphus albicilla – split from T. chloris
Melanesian kingfisher, Todiramphus tristrami – split from T. chloris
Pacific kingfisher, Todiramphus sacer – split from T. chloris
Talaud kingfisher, Todiramphus enigma
Guam kingfisher, Todiramphus cinnamominus – extinct in the wild
Rusty-capped kingfisher, Todiramphus pelewensis – split from T. cinnamominus
Pohnpei kingfisher, Todiramphus reichenbachii – split from T. cinnamominus
Beach kingfisher, Todiramphus saurophagus
Sacred kingfisher, Todiramphus sanctus
Flat-billed kingfisher, Todiramphus recurvirostris – split from T. sanctus
Cinnamon-banded kingfisher, Todiramphus australasia
Chattering kingfisher, Todiramphus tutus
Mewing kingfisher, Todiramphus ruficollaris – split from T. tutus
Society kingfisher, Todiramphus veneratus
Mangareva kingfisher, Todiramphus gambieri
Niau kingfisher, Todiramphus gertrudae – split from T. gambieri
Marquesan kingfisher, Todiramphus godeffroyi
Red-backed kingfisher, Todiramphus pyrrhopygius
References
Taxa named by René Lesson