Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Aequornithes
Ordo: Pelecaniformes
Familia: Threskiornithidae
Genus: Geronticus
Species: G. calvus - G. eremita
Name
Geronticus Wagler, 1832
Typus: Tantalus calvus Boddaert, 1783 = Geronticus calvus
References
Wagler, J.G. 1832. Neue Sippen und Gattungen der Säugthiere und Vögel. Isis von Oken 25: 1218–1235. BHL Reference page. col. 1232
Vernacular names
беларуская: Лысыя ібісы
English: Bald ibises
Esperanto: Kalva ibiso
suomi: Kaljuiibikset
The small bird genus Geronticus belongs to the ibis subfamily Threskiornithinae. Its name is derived from the Greek gérontos (γέρωντος, "old man")[2] in reference to the bald head of these dark-plumaged birds; in English, they are called bald ibises.
The genus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832.[3] The type species was subsequently designated as the southern bald ibis (Geronticus calvus).[4][5]
Species
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| northern bald ibis or waldrapp
|
Geronticus eremita (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Mediterranean | Size: Has a neck crest of elongated feathers. [6] Habitat: Its range had expanded after the last glacial period to the Alps of Germany and even a bit further north,[citation needed] but it was rendered extinct there mainly due to habitat destruction and unsustainable hunting. It is subject to ongoing reintroduction programs. Diet: |
EN
|
| southern bald ibis
|
Geronticus calvus (Boddaert, 1783) |
subtropical southern Africa | Size: Has a red crown patch but no crest.[7] Habitat: Diet: |
VU
|
Wild northern bald ibis (G. eremita) foraging in Morocco
Like most ibises, they are gregarious long-legged wading birds with long down-curved bills; they form one subfamily of the Threskiornithidae, the other subfamily being the spoonbills. The two Geronticus species differ from other ibises in that they have unfeathered faces and heads, breed on cliffs rather than in trees, and prefer arid habitats to the wetlands used by their relatives. Their food contains fewer aquatic animals and more terrestrial ones; they are known to gather together and feed on locust swarms, killing many of these notorious pests. This has also contributed to their decline however, as they were much affected by indiscriminate pesticide spraying in the mid-to-late 20th century, leading to their disappearance from many regions.[8]
Fossil record
Geronticus perplexus is by far the oldest fossil assigned to the present genus. It is known only from a piece of distal right humerus, found at Sansan, France,in Middle Miocene rocks of the Serravallian faunal stage MN 6 (about 12-14 million years ago). It was initially considered to be a heron and placed in the genera Ardea and Proardea. More plesiomorphic than the living species, it seems to represent an ancient member of the Geronticus lineage, in line with the theory that most living ibis genera seem to have evolved before 15 million years ago (mya).[9]
Geronticus apelex is apparently the direct ancestor of the southern bald ibis. Its remains were found in Early Pliocene deposits near Langebaanweg, South Africa, which date back about five million years.
What may be an ancestral European form, Geronticus balcanicus, was found in a Late Pliocene deposit near Slivnitsa, Bulgaria. It is hitherto only known from one left and one right carpometacarpus piece (NMNHS 14 and NMNHS 453, respectively) which are almost identical to those of living bald ibises. Contemporaneous with these during the early MN18 faunal stage – about two mya – birds entirely indistinguishable from the modern northern bald ibis inhabited at least Spain,if not the whole western Mediterranean region already. Thus, the extinct species may be the immediate ancestor of G. eremita, which would have originated at the western extent of its range. Some authors even include the Bulgarian population in G. eremita, but most are more cautious. G. balcanicus may also represent a lineage related but not ancestral to the northern bald ibis, which inhabited the inland regions northeastwards of the European Alpides and – like the immediate ancestor of G. eremita in this scenario – was isolated from the ancestors of G. calvus when gene flow across tropical Africa ceased.[10]
Footnotes
"Threskiornthidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
Brookes (2006) p.507
Wagler, Johann Georg (1832). "Neue Sippen und Gattungen der Säugthiere und Vögel". Isis von Oken (in German and Latin). 1832. cols 1218–1235 [1232].
Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 67.
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. 264.
BirdLife International (2018). "Geronticus eremita". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22697488A130895601. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697488A130895601.en. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
BirdLife International (2016). "Geronticus calvus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22697496A93617026. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22697496A93617026.en. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
del Hoyo et al. (1992): p.472, Snow (1998): pp.146-147, Sinclair (2002) p.74
Mlíkovský (2002)
del Hoyo et al. (1992), Boev (1998, 2002), Mlíkovský (2002)
References
Boev, Zlatozar (1998): Presence of Bald Ibises (Geronticus Wagler, 1832) (Threskiornithidae - Aves) in the Late Pliocene of Bulgaria. Geologica Balcanica 28 (1–2): 45–52.
Boev, Zlatozar (2002):Additional Material of Geronticus balcanicus Boev, 1998, and Precision of the Age of the Type Locality. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 52 (2): 53–58 [English with Bulgarian abstract]. full text
Brookes, Ian (ed.) (2006): The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers, Edinburgh. ISBN 0-550-10185-3
|del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.) (1992): Handbook of Birds of the World (Vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-10-5
Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World (Part 1: Europe). Ninox Press, Prague. ISBN 80-901105-3-8 PDF fulltext
Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil & Tarboton, Warwick R. (2002): SASOL Birds of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town ISBN 1-86872-721-1
Snow, David W. & Perrins, Christopher M. (eds.) (1998): The Birds of the Western Palearctic (concise ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854099-X
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