The genus
Eudynamys was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalists
Nicholas Vigors and
Thomas Horsfield. The name combines the
Ancient Greek eu meaning "fine" with
dunamis meaning "power" or "strength". The
type species was designated as the
Pacific koel by
George Robert Gray in 1840. A molecular genetic study by Sorenson and Payne (2005) found that the closest relative of
Eudynamys is the
dwarf koel (
Microdynamis parva), and beyond that the
thick-billed cuckoo (
Pachycoccyx audeberti). They found that the
long-tailed cuckoo (
Urodynamis taitensis) of
New Zealand and the Pacific, which had earlier been placed in
Eudynamys as
E. taitensis and sometimes called the long-tailed koel, was more distantly related, along with other members of the tribe
Cuculini, including the
white-crowned cuckoo (
Cacomantis leucolophus), also known as the white-crowned koel. However, not all the evidence for the relationships was very strong and further research was required.
Species The
taxonomy of the
common koel complex is difficult and remains a matter of dispute. Some recognize only a single species (common koel,
Eudynamys scolopaceus, with
melanorhynchus and
orientalis as subspecies); some recognize two species (common koel,
Eudynamys scolopaceus, with
orientalis as a subspecies, and black-billed koel,
Eudynamys melanorhynchus); and others recognize three species. Common koel may therefore refer to: }} }}
Sexual dimorphism The female koel's plumage is banded and speckled in shades of brown. The
evolutionary function is to camouflage her approach to her host's nest and enable her brood parasitism to go undetected.
Noisy miner and
wattle birds have been observed feeding their fledglings. The male's
sexually dimorphic plumage is black, like a
raven. They are of a similar size to ravens and are known to have territories that overlap with ravens. They have also been observed being mobbed by noisy miners and wattle birds in the same way as ravens (egg predators) are. The male koel may be a raven
mimic enabling the female to approach the host's nest, either deliberately or opportunistically, while the host flock is engaged in (distracted) mobbing the male. == References ==