Mousebird

Mousebirds Temporal range: Paleocene - Holocene, 62.5–0 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Blue-naped mousebird (Urocolius macrourus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Coraciimorphae
Order:	Coliiformes Murie, 1872
Family:	Coliidae Swainson, 1837
Genera
Colius Urocolius For fossil taxa, see text.

The mousebirds are birds in the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Cavitaves, which includes the Leptosomiformes (the cuckoo roller), Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes (hornbills and hoopoes), Piciformes (woodpeckers, toucans, and barbets) and Coraciformes (kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, motmots, and todies).^[2] This group is now confined to sub-Saharan Africa, and it is the only bird order confined entirely to that continent, with the possible exception of turacos which are considered by some as the distinct order Musophagiformes, and the cuckoo roller, which is the only member of the order Leptosomiformes, and which is found in Madagascar but not mainland Africa. Mousebirds had a wider range in the Paleogene, with a widespread distribution in Europe and North America during the Paleocene.^[3][4]