Cissa (genus)

Cissa is a genus of relatively short-tailed magpies, sometimes known as hunting cissas, that reside in the forests of tropical and subtropical southeast Asia and adjacent regions. The four species are quite similar with bright red bills, primarily green plumage, black mask, and rufous wings.

Cissa
Javan green magpie (Cissa thalassina)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Subfamily:	Cissinae
Genus:	Cissa F. Boie, 1826
Type species
Coracias sinensis[1] Gmelin, 1788
Species
Cissa chinensis Cissa hypoleuca Cissa jefferyi Cissa thalassina

Due to a low-carotenoid diet^[2] they often appear blue or turquoise in captivity; the structural color of their feathers.

They are carnivorous, and mainly feed on arthropods and small vertebrates.

The genus was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) as the type species.^[3][4] The name Cissa is from the Ancient Greek kissa meaning a "jay" or "magpie".^[5]

Species

The genus Cissa contains four species:^[6]

Genus Cissa – F. Boie, 1826 – four species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Common green magpie	Cissa chinensis (Boddaert, 1783) Five subspecies C. c. chinensis (Boddaert, 1783) C. c. klossi Delacour & Jabouille, 1924 C. c. margaritae Robinson & Kloss, 1919 C. c. robinsoni Ogilvie-Grant, 1906 C. c. minor Cabanis, 1850	Lower Himalayas to mainland southeast Asia, as well as Borneo and Sumatra	Size: Common green magpies have long tail feathers, striped black and white tertiaries, and a subtle yellow cap Habitat: Diet:	LC
Indochinese green magpie	Cissa hypoleuca Salvadori & Giglioli, 1885 Five subspecies C. h. jini C. h. concolor C. h. chauleti C. h. hypoleuca C. h. katsumatae	Mainland southeast Asia and adjacent parts of China	Size: Unique to this genus, indochinese green magpies have a yellow underbelly Habitat: Diet:	LC
Javan green magpie	Cissa thalassina (Temminck, 1826)	Java	Size: Javan green magpies have short tails and white tertiary feathers Habitat: Diet:	CR
Bornean green magpie	Cissa jefferyi Sharpe, 1888	Borneo	Size: Bornean green magpies look much like the other species in this genus but have white irises Habitat: Diet:	LC