Tody
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Todies Fossil range: early Oligocene – Recent |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||
|
See text. |
The todies are a family, Todidae, of tropical birds in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. The family has one genus, Todus. These are small near passerine species of forests of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean. They range in weight from 5-7 g. These species have colourful plumage and resembles kingfishers, typically with green heads, backs and wings, red throats and paler yellow or white undersides. They have longflattened bills with serrated edges. They are highly vocal, calling continuously with simply unmusical buzzing notes.
They eat small prey such as insects and lizards. Insects form the greater part of the diet, particularly grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, bugs, butterflies, bees, wasps and ants. Spiders and millipedes may also be taken, as is a small amont of fruit (although this only makes up 2% of the diet).
Like most of the Coraciiformes, todies nest in tunnels in the ground, laying about four white eggs.
A prehistoric genus, Palaeotodus, is known from fossils. The prehistoric species, dated to the early Oligocene, was discovered in France and has also been found in Germany, suggesting the family was once far more widespread than it is today.[1]
[edit] Species list
- Cuban Tody, Todus multicolor
- Broad-billed Tody, Todus subulatus
- Narrow-billed Tody, Todus angustirostris
- Jamaican Tody, Todus todus
- Puerto Rican Tody, Todus mexicanus
[edit] References
- ^ Mayr, R. & C.F. Knopf (2007) "A Tody (Alcediniformes: Todidae) from the Early Oligocene of Germany" Auk 124 (4): 1294–1304
[edit] External links
- Tody videos on the Internet Bird Collection
 |
This Coraciiformes-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
