Purple roller
Coracias naevius Daudin, 1800
Status not recordedbirds
The purple roller (Coracias naevius) is a species in the family Coraciidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh about 168 g.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the purple roller
- Weight
- 168 g
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrubland
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3
- Lifestyle
- Perching
- Migration
- Sedentary
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the purple roller live?
Not recorded
Is the purple roller endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the purple roller classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCoraciiformes
- familyCoraciidae
- genusCoracias
- SpeciesCoracias naevius Daudin, 1800
Synonyms Coracias noevia
Other names and names in other languages (43)
- Mozambique rollerEnglish
- RCROEnglish
- Rufous-crowned rollerEnglish
- GroottroupandAfrikaans
- شقراق أرجوانيArabic
- Червеноглава синявицаBulgarian
- gaig blau porpratCatalan
- mandelík nachovýCzech
- rholydd porfforWelsh
- Blåvinget EllekrageDanish
- StrichelrackeGerman
- Bunta koracioEsperanto
- Carraca coronipardaSpanish
- suur-siniraagEstonian
- viirusininärhiFinnish
- Rollier variéFrench
- Iomlascóir ruachoróntaIrish
- prugasta zlatovranaCroatian
- zöldhátú szalakótaHungarian
- Ghiandaia marina porporaItalian
- チャガシラニシブッポウソウJapanese
- rusvakepuris žalvarnisLithuanian
- RoodkruinscharrelaarDutch
- striperåkeNorwegian
- kraska kreskowanaPolish
- rolieiro-de-sobrancelha-brancaPortuguese
- Рыжая сизоворонкаRussian
- krakľa pestráSlovak
- progasta zlatovrankaSlovenian
- Modrovrana riđeg temenaSerbian
- fläckblåkråkaSwedish
- Ak Kaşlı GökkuzgunTurkish
- leTleretlereTswana
- сиворакша білоброваUkrainian
- 棕頂佛法僧Chinese
- GroottroupantAfrikaans
- mandelík čárkovanýCzech
- rufkrona koracioEsperanto
- Ghiandaia marina caporossiccioItalian
- rolieiro-de-sobrancelhas-brancasPortuguese
- Рыжешапочная сизоворонкаRussian
- Pas taçlı gökkuzgunTurkish
- 棕顶佛法僧Chinese
Relatives of the purple roller
Other species in the same genus Coracias.

European roller
Coracias garrulus

Indian roller
Coracias benghalensis
Lilac-breasted roller
Coracias caudatus
Abyssinian roller
Coracias abyssinicus
Blue-bellied roller
Coracias cyanogaster
Racket-tailed roller
Coracias spatulatus
ComparePurple roller vs European rollerPurple roller vs Indian rollerPurple roller vs Lilac-breasted rollerPurple roller vs Abyssinian roller
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the purple roller?
An adult purple roller weighs 168 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the purple roller?
The purple roller (Coracias naevius) belongs to the family Coraciidae in the order Coraciiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Purple roller (Coracias naevius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-roller
“Purple roller (Coracias naevius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-roller.
@misc{purple_roller_2026,
title = {Purple roller (Coracias naevius)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-roller},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}