Shining-blue kingfisher

Shining-blue kingfisher
Alcedo quadribrachys quadribrachys
Ghana
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
Subfamily: Alcedininae
Genus: Alcedo
Species:
A. quadribrachys
Binomial name
Alcedo quadribrachys
Bonaparte, 1850

The shining-blue kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in Equatorial 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 seven 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
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