Cuculiformes

cuculiformes - Wikilingue - Encydia

Plantilla:Ficha of taxón

The Cuculiformes are an order of birds neognatas that there includes the turacos, the cuckoos, the correcaminos and the hoatzín. It includes a whole of 165 species. ^[1]

In the classification taxonómica classic, they are considered to be related with by the Psittaciformes (parrots, gaucamayos, etc.); just as these, they present two guided fingers forward and two directed ones backwards, but they differ in its musculature, since its prehensile capacities are less. Another distinctive characteristic is the peak, because the top jaw is not mobile and the form is not hooked. The long tail of these birds is, also, of plumage less dense than in its nearby relatives.

General characteristics

The cuculiformes are birds of medium-sized size, normally between 35 to 65 cm long. Its extremities present two pairs of conflicting fingers (cigodáctilas). One of the singular conducts of the called "exploitative cuckoos" (subfamily Cuculinae) consists of putting its eggs in nests of other species, which they are in charge of raising this way to the pigeons.

Taxonomy

The cuculiformes include three families: ^[1]

Family Musophagidae - turacos
Family Cuculidae - cuckoos, correcaminos, etc.
Family Opisthocomidae - hoatzín

The classification proposed by taxonomy of Sibley-Ahlquist in the decade of 1980, being based on DNA hybridization, raises the family Musophagidae to a new order, Musophagiformes, ^[2]and the species hoacín has its definitive classification hanging, although an independent monotypical order has been proposed, Opisthocomiformes.

As for the genre Crotophaga, it has been considered to be often a Cuculidae subfamily and according to other authors it constitutes Crotophagidae a proper family. ^{[ required appointment]}