Editing Indian roller (section)

==Taxonomy==
The Indian roller was one of the many [[Aves in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae|bird species originally described]] by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the 1758 [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'']], where he coined the [[binomial name]] ''Corvus benghalensis''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=C. |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |year=1758 |title=Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |volume=1 |edition=10th |publisher=Laurentii Salvii |place=Holmiae (Stockholm) |language=Latin |page=106 |chapter=''Corvus benghalensis'' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753000798865/page/106/mode/1up}}</ref> Linnaeus based his description on the "Jay from Bengal" described and illustrated in 1731 by the English naturalist [[Eleazar Albin]], derived from a drawing by illustrator [[Joseph Dandridge]].<ref>{{cite book |name-list-style=amp |last1=Albin |first1=E. |author1-link=Eleazar Albin |last2=Derham |first2=W. |author2-link=William Derham |year=1731 |title=A Natural History of Birds : Illustrated with a Hundred and One Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life |volume=1 |page=17, Plate 17 |place=London |publisher=Printed for the author and sold by William Innys |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41130229 |access-date=5 April 2021 |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902063910/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41130229 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1766, Linnaeus described an Indian roller under the name ''Coracias indica'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=C. |year=1766 |title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |edition=12th |volume=1 |publisher=Laurentii Salvii |place=Holmiae (Stockholm) |language=Latin |chapter=''Coracias indica'' |page=159 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/carolialinnequit11linn/page/n162/mode/1up}}</ref> based on a description by [[George Edwards (naturalist)|George Edwards]] in 1764 of a specimen collected in Sri Lanka.<ref name=Edwards1764>{{ cite book |last=Edwards |first=G. |year=1764 |title=Gleanings of Natural History |volume=III |place=London |publisher=Printed for author at the Royal College of Physicians |pages=247–248 |chapter=The Blue Jay from the East Indies |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/gleaningsofnatu371764edwa/page/n79/mode/2up}}</ref> The latter name was used for many years; Indian ornithologist [[Biswamoy Biswas]] suspected it was because Linnaeus' 12th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' was preferred as the starting point for formal descriptions. German ornithologist [[Ernst Hartert]] determined there were distinct northern and southern subspecies and allocated ''benghalensis'' to the former and ''indicus'' to the latter. However, Biswas noted that the [[Type locality (biology)|type locality]] (where the specimen was originally found) for ''benghalensis'' was [[Madras Presidency]], which lies within the range of the southern subspecies, and proposed a neotype be selected from [[Bengal]], where Linnaeus had assumed the taxon had come from.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Biswas, B. |author-link=Biswamoy Biswas |year=1961|title=Proposal to designate a neotype for ''Corvus benghalensis'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Aves), under the plenary powers Z.N. (S) 1465 |journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=217–219 |url=https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofzoolog18inte#page/217/mode/1up |ref=none}}</ref> This was accepted by the [[International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite journal |author=China, W. E. |title=Opinion 663: ''Corvus benghalensis'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Aves): Designation of a neotype under the plenary powers |journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |date=1963 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=195–196 |url=https://archive.org/details/bulletinofzoolog20inte/page/195/mode/1up}}</ref>

Two subspecies are recognized:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web |editor1-last=Gill |editor1-first=Frank |editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Rasmussen |editor3-first=Pamela |editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=January 2021 |title=Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers |work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ |publisher=International Ornithologists' Union |access-date=5 April 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004213031/http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

* ''C. b. benghalensis'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}} occurs from [[western Asia]] to India north of the [[Vindhya Range]].<ref name=pcr/>
* ''C. b. indicus'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}} occurs in central and southern India and in Sri Lanka.<ref name=pcr/> It is distinguished by its slightly shorter wing and tail, darker blue crown and upper wing coverts, more brownish mantle and shoulder, and more pronounced red-brown collar on hindneck.<ref name=Cramp1985/>
The [[Indochinese roller]] (''C. affinis'') was often treated as a [[subspecies]] due to some [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridisation]] between the two taxa over an area from central Nepal to western [[Assam]].<ref name=pcr/> However, a 2018 molecular study of [[Nuclear DNA|nuclear]] and [[mitochondrial DNA]] showed that the latter taxon was actually most closely related to the [[purple-winged roller]] (''C. temminckii'') while the Indian roller was their next closest relative, diverging from a lineage that gave rise to those two species.<ref name=johansson18>{{cite journal |last1=Johansson |first1=U. S. |last2=Irestedt |first2=M. |last3=Qu |first3=Y. |last4=Ericson |first4=P. G. P. |date=2018 |title=Phylogenetic relationships of rollers (Coraciidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and fifteen nuclear genes |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=126 |pages=17–22 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.030 |pmid=29631051 |s2cid=5011292}}</ref>

[[File:Coracias affinis - Kaeng Krachan.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The closely related [[Indochinese roller]] (''C. affinis'') was considered a subspecies of the Indian roller.]]

{{Phylogeny/Coracias}}
The [[International Ornithologists' Union]] has designated "Indian roller" the official common name for the species.<ref name=ioc/> In British India, it was also colloquially termed 'blue jay'.<ref name=thurston12/> The Indian roller is called 'Little King' by villagers in [[Khuzestan Province]] in Iran.<ref name=":1" />