NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher
Tanysiptera sylvia Gould, 1850
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.
Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher, Julatten, Queensland, Australia
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The buff-breasted paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia) is a bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily, Halcyoninae. It is native to Australia and New Guinea. It migrates in November from New Guinea to its breeding grounds in the rainforest of North Queensland, Australia. Like all paradise kingfishers, this bird has colourful plumage with a red bill, buff breast and distinctive long tail streamers.
Wikipedia contributors, Buff-breasted paradise kingfisher; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:23:29.294871+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Tanysiptera sylvia Gould, 1850
- Name authority
- Gould, 1850
- Common name
- Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Alcedinidae
- Genus
- Tanysiptera
- 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
- familyAlcedinidae
- subfamilyHalcyoninae
- genusTanysiptera Vigors, 1825
- speciesTanysiptera sylvia Gould, 1850
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Tanysiptera. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Brown-headed Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera danae Sharpe, 1880 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera galatea G. R. Gray, 1859 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera hydrocharis G. R. Gray, 1858 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Biak Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera riedelii J. Verreaux, 1866 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-capped Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera nigriceps P. L. Sclater, 1877 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cobalt Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera carolinae Schlegel, 1871 | AlcedinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fairy Paradise KingfisherTanysiptera nympha G. R. Gray, 1840 | AlcedinidaeChordata | 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=554633 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.
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:54QDF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.