Blue-eyed shag

Blue-eyed shags
South Georgia shag Phalacrocorax georgianus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Suliformes
Family:	Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:	Leucocarbo Bonaparte, 1856
Type species
Carbo bougainvillii (guanay cormorant) Lesson, 1837
Species
See text
Synonyms
Phalacrocorax (in part) EuleucocarboVoisin, 1973 NesocarboVoisin, 1973 NotocarboSiegel-Causey, 1988

Leucocarbo is a genus of birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae. Several species within the genus are collectively known as blue-eyed shags. This is a group of closely related cormorant taxa. Many have a blue, purple or red ring around the eye (not a blue iris); other shared features are white underparts (at least in some individuals) and pink feet. ^[1]

They are found around the colder parts of the Southern Hemisphere, especially near southern South America, Antarctica, and New Zealand. Many are endemic to remote islands. Determining which types are species and which are subspecies of what larger species is problematic; various recent authorities have recognized from 8 to 14 species and have placed them in a variety of genera. The common names are even more confusing, "like myriad footprints criss-crossing in the snow and about as easy to disentangle." Only one common name is given for most species here. ^[1]

Taxonomy

The genus Leucocarbo was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. ^[2] He did not specify a type species but this was designated as the guanay cormorant by William Ogilvie-Grant in 1898. ^{[3] [4]} The name Leucocarbo combines the Ancient Greek leukos meaning "white" with the genus name Carbo introduced by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. ^[5]

A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Leucocarbo is sister to the American cormorants in the genus Nannopterum ; the genera split between 6.7 - 8.0 million years ago. ^[6]

The genus contains 15 species: ^[7]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Leucocarbo magellanicus	Rock shag or Magellanic cormorant	The coast of Argentina, Uruguay and southern Chile.
	Leucocarbo bougainvillii	Guanay cormorant	The western coast of South America (Extirpated from Argentina).
	Leucocarbo ranfurlyi	Bounty shag	Bounty Islands.
	Leucocarbo carunculatus	New Zealand king shag, rough-faced shag or kawau	New Zealand.
	Leucocarbo onslowi	Chatham shag	Chatham Islands.
	Leucocarbo chalconotus	Stewart Island shag	Eastern coast of New Zealand.
	Leucocarbo colensoi	Auckland shag	Auckland Islands.
	Leucocarbo campbelli	Campbell shag	Campbell Island.
	Leucocarbo atriceps	Imperial shag or blue-eyed shag	Southern Chile and Argentina.
	Leucocarbo georgianus	South Georgia shag	South Georgia and the Shag Rocks.
	Leucocarbo melanogenis	Crozet shag	Crozet Island, Prince Edward Islands and Marion Island.
	Leucocarbo bransfieldensis	Antarctic shag	The Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and Elephant Island.
	Leucocarbo verrucosus	Kerguelen shag	Kerguelen Islands.
	Leucocarbo nivalis	Heard Island shag	Heard and McDonald Islands.
	Leucocarbo purpurascens	Macquarie shag	Macquarie Island.

References

1. Nelson, J. Bryan (2006). Pelicans, Cormorants, and Their Relatives: The Pelecaniformes. Oxford University Press, U.S.A. pp. 476–511, Plate 8. ISBN   978-0-19-857727-0.
2. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1856). "Excusion dans les divers Musées d'Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique, et tableaux paralléliques de l'ordre des échassiers (suite)". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 43: 571–579 [575].
3. Sharpe, R.B.; Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. (1898). Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae and Impennes in the collection of the British Museum. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Vol. 26. London: Trustees of the British Museum. p. 331.
4. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 164.
5. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 223. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
6. Kennedy, M.; Spencer, H.G. (2014). "Classification of the cormorants of the world". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 79: 249–257. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.06.020. PMID   24994028.
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Storks, frigatebirds, boobies, darters, cormorants". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 March 2025.