| Phalacrocorax | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Suliformes |
| Family: | Phalacrocoracidae |
| Genus: | Phalacrocorax Brisson, 1760 |
| Type species | |
| Pelecanus carbo | |
| Species | |
12, see text | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Phalacrocorax is a genus of fish-eating birds in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. Members of this genus are also known as the Old World cormorants. [1]
The genus Phalacrocorax was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) as the type species. [2] [3] Phalacrocorax is the Latin word for a cormorant. [4]
Formerly, many other species of cormorant were classified in Phalacrocorax, but most of these have been split out into different genera. A 2014 study found Phalacrocrax to be the sister genus to Urile , which are thought to have split from each other between 8.9 - 10.3 million years ago. [5]
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Phalacrocorax contains 12 species. [5] This taxonomy was adopted by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International, and later by the IOC. [6]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Phalacrocorax neglectus | Bank cormorant or Wahlberg's cormorant | Namibia and the western seaboard of South Africa |
 | Phalacrocorax nigrogularis | Socotra cormorant | Arabian Peninsula. |
 | Phalacrocorax featherstoni | Pitt shag or Featherstone's shag | Pitt Island. |
 | Phalacrocorax punctatus | Spotted shag | New Zealand. |
 | Phalacrocorax fuscescens | Black-faced cormorant | Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania |
 | Phalacrocorax varius | Australian pied cormorant or yellow-faced cormorant | Australasia, New Zealand |
 | Phalacrocorax sulcirostris | Little black cormorant | Australia and northern New Zealand |
 | Phalacrocorax fuscicollis | Indian cormorant | Indian Subcontinent west to Sind and east to Thailand and Cambodia. |
 | Phalacrocorax capensis | Cape cormorant | the Congo, and up the east coast of South Africa as far as Mozambique. |
 | Phalacrocorax capillatus | Japanese cormorant or Temminck's cormorant | Taiwan, north through Korea and Japan, to the Russian Far East. |
 | Phalacrocorax lucidus | White-breasted cormorant | the Cape Verde Islands to Guinea-Bissau and from Angola to the Cape of Good Hope and northwards on the east coast to Mozambique. |
 | Phalacrocorax carbo | Great cormorant or black shag | the Old World, Australia, and the Atlantic coast of North America. |
Formerly, the genus Phalacrocorax often included all members of the family Phalacrocoracidae. More recently, some authorities, such as the Clements checklist, recognized Microcarbo as distinct (due to its morphological distinctiveness and the old age of its split from the remaining cormorants), while retaining all other cormorants in a still-broad Phalacrocorax. The IOC checklist went a step further in recognizing Leucocarbo as well as Microcarbo as distinct (while retaining the rest in Phalacrocorax), but this treatment rendered Phalacrocorax paraphyletic (with some members much more closely related to Leucocarbo than others). Nowadays, due to the age of the splits between different cormorant clades, most authorities, including the aforementioned two checklists, now recognize seven cormorant genera: Microcarbo, Poikilocarbo , Phalacrocorax, Urile , Gulosus , Nannopterum , and Leucocarbo. [5]
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven genera. The great cormorant and the common shag are the only two species of the family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly.
Pica is a genus of seven species of birds in the family Corvidae in both the New World and the Old.
The pelagic cormorant, also known as Baird's cormorant or violet-green cormorant, is a small member of the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. Analogous to other smallish cormorants, it is also called the pelagic shag occasionally. This seabird lives along the coasts of the northern Pacific; during winter it can also be found in the open ocean. Pelagic cormorants have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have the highest flight costs of any bird.
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World, with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat and northern wheatear, found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family is relatively large and includes 351 species which are divided into 54 genera.
The genus Carduelis is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae.
The European shag or common shag is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Gulosus. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, mainly wintering in its breeding range except for the northernmost birds. In Britain this seabird is usually referred to as simply the shag. The scientific genus name derives from the Latin for glutton. The species name aristotelis commemorates the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Nannopterum is a genus of cormorant comprising three species. They are found throughout the Americas, hence the common name American cormorants.
The little black cormorant is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It is common in smaller rivers and lakes throughout most areas of Australia and northern New Zealand, where it is known as the little black shag. It is around sixty centimetres long, and is all black with blue-green eyes.
The red-faced cormorant, red-faced shag or violet shag, is a bird species of the family Phalacrocoracidae.
The rock shag, also known as the Magellanic cormorant, is a marine cormorant found around the southernmost coasts of South America. Its breeding range is from around Valdivia, Chile, south to Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego, and north to Punta Tombo in Argentina. In winter it is seen further north, with individuals reaching as far as Santiago, Chile on the west coast and Uruguay on the east. The birds also breed around the coasts of the Falkland Islands.
Tangara is a large genus of birds of the tanager family. It includes 27 species. All are from the Neotropics, and while most are fairly widespread, some have small distributions and are threatened. They are fairly small, ranging in size from 11.5–15 centimetres (4.5–5.9 in). This genus includes some of the most spectacularly colored birds of the world.
The yellow canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in much of the western and central regions of southern Africa and has been introduced to Ascension and St Helena islands.
The imperial shag or imperial cormorant is a black and white cormorant native to southern South America, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place it in the genus Leucocarbo, others in the genus Phalacrocorax. It is also known as the blue-eyed shag, blue-eyed cormorant and by many other names, and is one of a larger group of cormorants called blue-eyed shags. The taxonomy is very complex, and several former subspecies are often considered separate species.
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 ; other shared features are white underparts and pink feet.
Melopyrrha is a genus of passerine birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is made up of four extant species endemic to the Greater Antilles, along with 1 possibly extinct species from the island of Saint Kitts in the Lesser Antilles.
The flame-crested tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. Ten subspecies are currently recognized.
The Chatham shag, also known as the Chatham Island shag, is a species of bird in the cormorant and shag family, Phalacrocoracidae. It is endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. For a long time the species was placed in the genus Phalacrocorax; today it is mostly placed with the other blue-eyed shags of New Zealand and Antarctica in the genus Leucocarbo. Its closest relative is the Otago shag of South Island.
Microcarbo is a genus of fish-eating birds, known as cormorants, of the family Phalacrocoracidae. The genus was formerly subsumed within Phalacrocorax.
The order Suliformes is an order recognised by the International Ornithologist's Union. In regard to the recent evidence that the traditional Pelecaniformes is polyphyletic, it has been suggested that the group be divided to reflect the true evolutionary relationships, a 2017 study indicated that they are most closely related to Otidiformes (bustards) and Ciconiiformes (storks).
Urile is a genus of birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae, commonly known as North Pacific cormorants. It contains 3 extant and 1 recently extinct species, all of which are or were found in the North Pacific Ocean.
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