Cissa (bird)
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cissa is a genus of relatively short-tailed magpies, sometimes known as hunting cissas, that reside in the forests of tropical and subtropical southeast Asia and adjacent regions. The four species are quite similar with bright red bills, primarily green plumage, black mask, and rufous wings.
| Cissa | |
|---|---|
| |
| Javan green magpie (Cissa thalassina) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Corvidae |
| Subfamily: | Cissinae |
| Genus: | Cissa F. Boie, 1826 |
| Type species | |
| Coracias sinensis[1] Gmelin, 1788 | |
| Species | |
Due to a low-carotenoid diet[2] they often appear blue or turquoise in captivity; the structural color of their feathers. They are carnivorous, and mainly feed on arthropods and small vertebrates.
Taxonomy
The genus was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) as the type species.[3][4] The name Cissa is from the Ancient Greek kissa meaning a "jay" or "magpie".[5]
The genus Cissa contains four species:[6]
| Species of Cissa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Common and binomial names | Image | Description | Range |
| Common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) |
 |
Common green magpies have long tail feathers, striped black and white tertiaries, and a subtle yellow cap | Lower Himalayas to mainland southeast Asia, as well as Borneo and Sumatra |
| Indochinese green magpie (Cissa hypoleuca) |
 |
Unique to this genus, indochinese green magpies have a yellow underbelly | Mainland southeast Asia and adjacent parts of China |
| Javan green magpie (Cissa thalassina) |
 |
Javan green magpies have short tails and white tertiary feathers | Java |
| Bornean green magpie (Cissa jefferyi) |
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Bornean green magpies look much like the other species in this genus but have white irises | Borneo |
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