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Columbidae is a bird family consisting of pigeons and doves. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily feed on seeds, fruits, and plants. The family occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms.
Grebes are aquatic diving birds in the order Podicipediformes. Grebes are widely distributed birds of freshwater, with some species also occurring in marine habitats during migration and winter. Some flightless species have occurred as well, most notable where they reside in stable lakes. The order contains a single family, the Podicipedidae, which includes 22 species in six extant genera. Although they resemble in passing to other diving birds such as loons and coots, they are most closely related to flamingos as supported by morphological, molecular and paleontological data. Many species are monogamous and are known for their courtship displays, with the pair performing synchronzing dances across the water's surface. The birds build floating vegatative nests where they lay several eggs. About a third of the world's grebes are listed at various levels of conservation concerns, the biggest threats including habitat loss, the introduction of invasive predatory fish and human poaching. As such three species have gone extinct.
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quails, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important as seed dispersers and predators in the ecosystems they inhabit, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds.
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae, Anseranatidae, and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed.
The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, although the family is found in every terrestrial habitat except dry deserts, polar regions, and alpine areas above the snow line. Members of the Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous island species are known. The most common rail habitats are marshland and dense forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation.
The Phasianidae are a family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular gamebirds. The family is a large one and includes 184 species divided into 54 genera. It was formerly broken up into two subfamilies, the Phasianinae and the Perdicinae. However, this treatment is now known to be paraphyletic, and more recent evidence supports breaking it up into three subfamilies: Rollulinae, Phasianinae, and Pavoninae. Sometimes, additional families and birds are treated as part of this family. For example, the American Ornithologists' Union includes the Tetraonidae (grouse), Numididae (guineafowl), and Meleagrididae (turkeys) as subfamilies in Phasianidae.
Anas is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was split into four separate genera. The genus now contains 31 living species. The name Anas is the Latin for "duck".
Geophaps is a small genus of doves in the order Columbiformes. Established by George Robert Gray, it contains three extant species. The plumage and distribution suggests that all species within the genus have formed from a common ancestor and that through adaptive radiation they have varied greatly in size, shape and ecology.
Gallirallus is a genus of rails that live in the Australasian-Pacific region. The genus is characterised by an ability to colonise relatively small and isolated islands and thereafter to evolve flightless forms, many of which became extinct following Polynesian settlement.
Geotrygon is a bird genus in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). Its members are called quail-doves, and all live in the Neotropics. The species of this genus have ranges from southern Mexico and Central America to the West Indies and South America. Quail-doves are ground-dwelling birds that live, nest, and feed in dense forests. They are remarkable for their purple to brown coloration with light-and-dark facial markings.
Nesoenas is a bird genus in the pigeon and dove family, Columbidae. It is often included with the typical turtle-doves in Streptopelia or the typical pigeons (Columba). By those who accepted it, it was usually treated as monotypic, containing only the pink pigeon of Mauritius.
The crested cuckoo-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Saint Bathans mammal is a currently unnamed extinct primitive mammal from the Early Miocene (Altonian) of New Zealand. A member of the Saint Bathans fauna, it is notable for being a late surviving "archaic" mammal species, neither a placental nor a marsupial. It also provides evidence that flightless fully terrestrial mammals did in fact once live in Zealandia. This is in contrast to modern New Zealand, where bats and seals are the only non-introduced mammals in the otherwise bird-dominated terrestrial faunas.
Primophaps schoddei is an extinct genus and species of bird in the pigeon family. It was described from Late Oligocene material found at Riversleigh in north-western Queensland, Australia. It was closely related to the Australian bronzewing pigeons, especially those in the genus Phaps. The genus name comes from the Latin primordium,, and the Greek phaps (“pigeon”). The specific epithet honours Australian taxonomist Richard Schodde for his work on the relationships of Australian birds.
Rupephaps taketake, also referred to as the Saint Bathans pigeon, is an extinct species of pigeon from the Miocene of New Zealand. It is the first species of columbid to be described from pre-Pliocene fossil deposits in the Australasian region.
The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) period, with an age range of 19–16 million years ago.
Manuherikia is a genus of extinct species of ducks from the Miocene of New Zealand. It was described from fossil material of the Saint Bathans Fauna, in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group, found by the Manuherikia River in the Central Otago region of the South Island. The genus name comes from the name of the geological formation in which the fossils were found and, ultimately, from the Manuherikia River and its valley.
Hakawai is an extinct genus of prehistoric birds that lived during the early Miocene to middle Miocene in New Zealand. According to a 2015 paper, Hakawai melvillei was a representative of a large group of birds that comprises the seedsnipes of family Thinocoridae) and the plains-wanderer. This discovery sheds light on evolutionary processes at work when South America, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand were all parts of Gondwanaland.
References
- ↑ del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (1997). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos . Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-22-9.
- ↑ IOC World Bird List v6.3 . "IOC Names File Plus 6.3" . Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- ↑ Çınar, Ümüt (November 2015). "02 → Gᴀʟʟᴏᴀɴsᴇʀᴀᴇ : Gᴀʟʟɪfᴏʀᴍᴇs". English Names of Birds . Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ↑ Haaramo, Mikko (2007). "Aves [Avialae]– basal birds". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ↑ "Taxonomic lists- Aves". Paleofile.com (net, info). Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ↑ Boyd, John (2007). "COLUMBEA: Mirandornithes, Columbimorphae". John Boyd's website. Retrieved 30 December 2015.