Pelecaniformes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pelecaniformes
Blue-footed Booby
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Pelecaniformes
Sharpe, 1891
Families
- Fregatidae
- Pelecanidae
- Sulidae
- Phalacrocoracidae
- Anhingidae
- Phaethontidae
For prehistoric families,
see article text.
The Pelecaniformes
are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. They are
distinguished from other birds by the possession of feet with all four toes
webbed (totipalmate). Most have a bare throat patch (gular patch). There are
some 50-60 living species, depending on which families are placed in this
group.
They feed on fish, squid or
similar marine life. Nesting is colonial, although birds are monogamous, and
the young are born helpless — in contrast, for example, to many waders.
Systematics
and evolution
Sibley and Ahlquist's
landmark DNA-DNA hybridisation studies (See: Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy) led to
them placing the families traditionally contained within the Pelecaniformes
together with the grebes, cormorants, ibises and spoonbills, New World vultures,
storks, penguins, albatrosses, petrels, and loons together as a sub-group
within a greatly expanded order Ciconiiformes, a radical move which by now has
been all but rejected: their "Ciconiiformes" merely assembled all
early advanced land- and seabirds for which their research technique delivered
insufficient phylogenetic resolution.
Recent research strongly
suggests that the similarities between the Pelecaniformes as traditionally
defined are the result of convergent evolution rather than common descent, and
that the group is paraphyletic (Mayr, 2003). All families in the traditional or
revised Pelecaniformes except the Phalacrocoracidae have only a few handfuls of
species at most, but many were more numerous in the early Neogene. Fossil
genera and species are discussed in the respective family or genus accounts;
two little-known prehistoric pelecaniforms, however, cannot be classified
accurately enough to assign them to a family. They are "Sula"
ronzoni from Early Oligocene rocks at Ronzon (France), which was initially
believed to be a sea-duck and possibly is an ancestral pelecaniform, and a Pleistocene
fossil from Australia apparently related to darters and described as ?Anhinga
laticeps.
ORDER PELECANIFORMES
- Fregatidae: frigatebirds. A group of five closely
related large birds with black and white plumage, very long wings, and
parasitical hunting habits. Red throat patches are inflated in display.
- Pelecanidae: pelicans. Very large birds with throat
pouches in which they catch and store fish while hunting.
- Pelagornithidae: pseudotooth birds. A family
of gigantic seabirds that looked similar to albatrosses, but had a large
bill with tooth-like projections that enabled them to pick up slippery
prey like fish or squids more easily.
- Sulidae: gannets and boobies. Medium to large
species which hunt by diving from the air into the sea (plunge diving). Long
wings and bills, often coloured feet.
- Phalacrocoracidae: cormorants and shags. Medium
to large with hooked bills and usually black or similar dark plumage. Plumage
is not fully waterproof.
- Anhingidae: darters. Another small closely related
group of four species, with long bills, snake-like necks and the ability
to swim with their body submerged. Plumage is not fully waterproof.
- Protoplotidae: an extinct family which apparently is
derived from the same ancestor as the anhingas, but is very badly known.
The following families are
traditionally placed into the Pelecaniformes, but probably do not belong there:
- Plotopteridae: plotopterids or
diving-"boobies". An extinct group of penguin-like seabirds. Possibly
link penguins and pelecaniforms, in which case they would possibly have to
be placed in a distinct order.
- Phaethontidae: tropicbirds. Medium-sized birds, adapted
to a matrine lifestyle similar to frigatebirds. Adults have long central
tail feathers and no gular patch. Apparently closer to Procellariiformes
(Mayr, 2003; Bourdon et al., 2005) and might form a separate order,
together with the
- Prophaethontidae: a little-known prehistoric
family closely allied to the tropicbirds.
The shoebill and the hammerkop,
which make up the monotypic families (Balaenicipitidae and Scopidae,
respectively) usually placed with the traditional Ciconiiformes, may be very
distinct pelecaniform lineages instead.
References
- Bourdon, Estelle; Bouya, Baâdi & Iarochene,
Mohamed (2005): Earliest African neornithine bird: A new species of
Prophaethontidae (Aves) from the Paleocene of Morocco. J. Vertebr.
Paleontol. 25(1): 157-170. DOI:
10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0157:EANBAN]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
- Mayr, Gerald (2003): The phylogenetic
affinities of the Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex). Journal für
Ornithologie 144(2): 157-175. [English with German abstract] HTML
abstract
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pelecaniformes&action=history
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Pelecaniformes
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Blue-footed Booby |
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Scientific classification |
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Families |
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For prehistoric families,
see article text. |
The Pelecaniformes
are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. They are
distinguished from other birds by the possession of feet with all four toes
webbed (totipalmate). Most have a bare throat patch (gular patch). There are
some 50-60 living species, depending on which families are placed in this
group.
They feed on fish, squid or
similar marine life. Nesting is colonial, although birds are monogamous, and
the young are born helpless — in contrast, for example, to many waders.
Systematics
and evolution
Sibley and Ahlquist's
landmark DNA-DNA hybridisation studies (See: Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy) led to
them placing the families traditionally contained within the Pelecaniformes
together with the grebes, cormorants, ibises and spoonbills, New World vultures,
storks, penguins, albatrosses, petrels, and loons together as a sub-group
within a greatly expanded order Ciconiiformes, a radical move which by now has
been all but rejected: their "Ciconiiformes" merely assembled all
early advanced land- and seabirds for which their research technique delivered
insufficient phylogenetic resolution.
Recent research strongly
suggests that the similarities between the Pelecaniformes as traditionally
defined are the result of convergent evolution rather than common descent, and
that the group is paraphyletic (Mayr, 2003). All families in the traditional or
revised Pelecaniformes except the Phalacrocoracidae have only a few handfuls of
species at most, but many were more numerous in the early Neogene. Fossil
genera and species are discussed in the respective family or genus accounts;
two little-known prehistoric pelecaniforms, however, cannot be classified
accurately enough to assign them to a family. They are "Sula"
ronzoni from Early Oligocene rocks at Ronzon (France), which was initially
believed to be a sea-duck and possibly is an ancestral pelecaniform, and a Pleistocene
fossil from Australia apparently related to darters and described as ?Anhinga
laticeps.
ORDER PELECANIFORMES
- Fregatidae: frigatebirds. A group of five closely
related large birds with black and white plumage, very long wings, and
parasitical hunting habits. Red throat patches are inflated in display.
- Pelecanidae: pelicans. Very large birds with throat
pouches in which they catch and store fish while hunting.
- Pelagornithidae: pseudotooth birds. A family
of gigantic seabirds that looked similar to albatrosses, but had a large
bill with tooth-like projections that enabled them to pick up slippery
prey like fish or squids more easily.
- Sulidae: gannets and boobies. Medium to large
species which hunt by diving from the air into the sea (plunge diving). Long
wings and bills, often coloured feet.
- Phalacrocoracidae: cormorants and shags. Medium
to large with hooked bills and usually black or similar dark plumage. Plumage
is not fully waterproof.
- Anhingidae: darters. Another small closely related
group of four species, with long bills, snake-like necks and the ability
to swim with their body submerged. Plumage is not fully waterproof.
- Protoplotidae: an extinct family which apparently is
derived from the same ancestor as the anhingas, but is very badly known.
The following families are
traditionally placed into the Pelecaniformes, but probably do not belong there:
- Plotopteridae: plotopterids or
diving-"boobies". An extinct group of penguin-like seabirds. Possibly
link penguins and pelecaniforms, in which case they would possibly have to
be placed in a distinct order.
- Phaethontidae: tropicbirds. Medium-sized birds, adapted
to a matrine lifestyle similar to frigatebirds. Adults have long central
tail feathers and no gular patch. Apparently closer to Procellariiformes
(Mayr, 2003; Bourdon et al., 2005) and might form a separate order,
together with the
- Prophaethontidae: a little-known prehistoric
family closely allied to the tropicbirds.
The shoebill and the hammerkop,
which make up the monotypic families (Balaenicipitidae and Scopidae,
respectively) usually placed with the traditional Ciconiiformes, may be very
distinct pelecaniform lineages instead.
References
- Bourdon, Estelle; Bouya, Baâdi & Iarochene,
Mohamed (2005): Earliest African neornithine bird: A new species of
Prophaethontidae (Aves) from the Paleocene of Morocco. J. Vertebr.
Paleontol. 25(1): 157-170. DOI:
10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0157:EANBAN]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
- Mayr, Gerald (2003): The phylogenetic
affinities of the Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex). Journal für
Ornithologie 144(2): 157-175. [English with German abstract] HTML
abstract