Coursers and Pratincoles (Glareolidae) - HBW 3

Cream-colored Courser (Cursorius cursor)

French: Courvite isabelle German: Rennvogel Spanish: Corredor Sahariano
Other common names: Desert Courser

Taxonomy: Charadrius cursor Latham, 1787, Kent, England.
Forms superspecies with C. rufus, C. temminckii and C. coromandelicus, although overlap in range of C. temminckii with present species and C. rufus indicates that C. temminckii and C. coromandelicus may represent a separate superspecies. Sometimes considered to include C. rufus. Smaller, darker races somalensis and littoralis of E Africa are more distinct and may actually belong to C. rufus. Some intergradation between races exsul, cursor and bogolubovi. Canary Is population sometimes racially di.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Charadrius cursor Latham,1787. Kent, England.
Forms superspecies with C. rufus, C. temminckii and C. coromandelicus, although overlap in range of C. temminckii with present species and C. rufus indicates that C. temminckii and C. coromandelicus may represent a separate superspecies. Sometimes considered to include C. rufus. Smaller, darker races somalensis and littoralis of E Africa are more distinct and may actually belong to C. rufus. Some intergradation between races exsul, cursor and bogolubovi. Canary Is population sometimes racially distinguished as bannermani, but separation from cursor dependent on size alone and probably not significant; proposed races dahlakensis and meruensis nowadays included in races cursor and littoralis respectively. Five subspecies normally recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

bogolubovi Zarudny, 1885 - SE Turkey through E Iran to SW Afghanistan, S Pakistan and NW India.
cursor (Latham, 1787) - Canary Is, N Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Socotra; winters S to Sahel, N Kenya and Saudi Arabia.
exsul Hartert, 1920 - Cape Verde Is.

See all 5 subspecies

bogolubovi Zarudny, 1885 - SE Turkey through E Iran to SW Afghanistan, S Pakistan and NW India.
cursor (Latham, 1787) - Canary Is, N Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Socotra; winters S to Sahel, N Kenya and Saudi Arabia.
exsul Hartert, 1920 - Cape Verde Is.
somalensis Shelley, 1885 - Eritrea, E Ethiopia and Somalia.
littoralis Erlanger, 1905 - extreme SE Sudan, through N Kenya to S Somalia.