Kookaburra larger group known as "kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water. The genus "Dacelo" was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. The type species is the laughing kookaburra. The name "Dacelo" is an anagram of "Alcedo", the Latin word for a kingfisher. A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus "Dacelo", as currently defined, is paraphyletic. The shovel-billed kookaburra in the monotypic genus "Clytoceyx" sits within "Dacelo". Four species of kookaburra can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands. Kookaburras are sexually dimorphic. This is noticeable in the blue-winged and
Invasive species of Australian origin such as the kereru, tui, and kaka. They are a carrier of tuberculosis which they spread to pasture and hence livestock. Control of them has been an ongoing project of regional councils, the Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird, and various other wildlife preservation organizations. Perhaps the best known example of an Australian plant becoming an invasive species is the problematic introduction of "Melaleuca quinquenervia" into Florida. As with all "Melaleuca" species, "M. quinquenervia" seeds prolifically. In the absence of natural predators, it spread throughout southern Florida; at one time it was estimated that it had colonised 12% of southern