NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Blue-bearded Bee-eater
Nyctyornis athertoni (Jardine & Selby, 1828)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The blue-bearded bee-eater (Nyctyornis athertoni) is a species of bee-eater found in much of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. This bee-eater is found in forest clearings. It is found mainly in the Malayan region but extends west into peninsular India. The blue feathers of its throat are elongated and often fluffed giving it its name. They have a loud call but are not as gregarious or active as the smaller bee-eaters, and their square ended tail lacks the typical "wires" made up of the shafts of the longer central tail feathers found in many other bee-eaters.
Wikipedia contributors, Blue-bearded bee-eater; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:53:17.337925+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Nyctyornis athertoni (Jardine & Selby, 1828)
- Name authority
- (Jardine & Selby, 1828)
- Common name
- Blue-bearded Bee-eater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Meropidae
- Genus
- Nyctyornis
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderCoraciiformes
- familyMeropidae
- genusNyctyornis Jardine & Selby, 1830
- speciesNyctyornis athertoni (Jardine & Selby, 1828)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Nyctyornis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Red-bearded Bee-eaterNyctyornis amictus (Temminck, 1824) | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554641 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4866M. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.