Phalaropus

Life-forms

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
Ordo: Charadriiformes
Subordo: Charadrii

Familia: Scolopacidae
Genus: Phalaropus
Species: P fulicarius - P. lobatus - P. tricolor
Name

Phalaropus Brisson, 1760

Gender: masculine
Typus: Tringa fulicaria Linnaeus, 1758 = Phalaropus fulicarius

Synonymy

Lobipes Cuvier, 1816 Régne Animal 1 p. 495 BHL
Crymophilus Vieillot, 1816 AnalyseOrn. p. 62 BHL
Steganopus Vieillot, 1818 Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat.nouv.ed. 24 p. 124 BHL

References

Brisson, M.J. 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés. A laquelle on a joint une description exacte de chaque espece, avec les citations des auteurs qui en ont traité, les noms qu'ils leur ont donnés, ceux que leur ont donnés les différentes nations, & les noms vulgaires. Ouvrage enrichi de figures en taille-douce. Tome I. - pp. j-xxiv [= 1-24], 1-526, j-lxxiij [= 1-73], Pl. I-XXXVII [= 1-37]. Paris. (Bauche). p. 50 BHL Reference page. Tome 6, p. 12

Vernacular names
العربية: فلروب
azərbaycanca: Üzərçələr
brezhoneg: Teleg
català: Escuraflascons
Cymraeg: Llydandroed Gyddfgoch
dansk: Svømmesnepper
Deutsch: Wassertreter
English: Phalarope
Esperanto: Falaropo
español: Falaropos
euskara: Mendebal-txori
فارسی: شناگرها
suomi: Vesipääskyt
français: Phalarope
Gaeilge: Falaróp
magyar: Víztaposó
Ido: Falaropo
italiano: Falaropo
日本語: ヒレアシシギ属
ქართული: ტივტივა
latviešu: Pūslīši
Plattdüütsch: Franjenpoten
Nederlands: Franjepoot
Diné bizaad: Tóidoozohiikeeʼí
português: Falaropo
română: Notatițe
русский: Плосконосые плавунчики
саха тыла: Чырыттар уустара
svenska: Simsnäppor
Kiswahili: Kipwita
українська: Плавунець
中文: 瓣蹼鹬属

A phalarope is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus Phalaropus of the bird family Scolopacidae.

Phalaropes are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the Actitis and Terek sandpipers, and also of the turnstones and calidrids.[1] They are especially notable for their unusual nesting behavior and their unique feeding technique.

Two species, the red or grey phalarope (P. fulicarius) and the red-necked phalarope (P. lobatus) breed around the Arctic Circle and winter on tropical oceans. Wilson's phalarope (P. tricolor) breeds in western North America and migrates to South America. All are 15–25 cm (6–10 in) in length, with lobed toes and a straight, slender bill. Predominantly grey and white in winter, their plumage develops reddish markings in summer.
Taxonomy

The genus Phalaropus was introduced by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) as the type species.[2][3] The English and genus names come through French phalarope and scientific Latin Phalaropus from Ancient Greek phalaris, "coot", and pous, "foot". Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes.[4][5]

The genus contains three species:[6]

Wilson's phalarope, P. tricolor
Red-necked phalarope, P. lobatus
Red phalarope, P. fulicarius

A fossil species, P. elenorae, is known from the Middle Pliocene 4–3 million years ago (Mya). A coracoid fragment from the Late Oligocene (23 Mya) near Créchy, France,was also ascribed to a primitive phalarope;[7] it might belong to an early species of the present genus or a prehistoric relative. The divergence of phalaropes from their closest relatives can be dated to around that time, as evidenced by the fossil record (chiefly of the shanks) and supported by tentative DNA sequence data.[8][9] Of note, the last remains of the Turgai Sea disappeared around then, and given the distribution of their fossil species, this process probably played a major role in separating the lineages of the shank-phalarope clade.
Ecology and behavior

Red and red-necked phalaropes are unusual amongst shorebirds in that they are considered pelagic, that is, they spend a great deal of their lives outside the breeding season well out to sea. Phalaropes are unusually halophilic (salt-loving) and feed in great numbers in saline lakes such as Mono Lake in California and the Great Salt Lake of Utah.
Feeding

When feeding, a phalarope often swims in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behavior is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird then reaches into the center of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. Phalaropes use the surface tension of water to capture food particles and get them to move up along their bills and into their mouths in what has been termed as a capillary ratchet.[10][11]
Sexual dimorphism and reproduction

In the three phalarope species, sexual dimorphism and contributions to parenting are reversed from what is normally seen in birds. Females are larger and more brightly colored than males. The females pursue and fight over males, then defend them from other females until the male begins incubation of the clutch. Males perform all incubation and chick care, while the female attempts to find another male to mate with. If a male loses his eggs to predation, he often rejoins his original mate or a new female, which then lays another clutch. When the season is too late to start new nests, females begin their southward migration, leaving the males to incubate the eggs and care for the young. Phalaropes are uncommon among birds and vertebrates in general in that they engage in polyandry, with one female taking multiple male mates, while males mate with only one female. Specifically, phalaropes engage in serial polyandry, wherein females pair with multiple males at different times in the breeding season.[12]
See also

Eurasian dotterel, a species in which the male also incubates the eggs and rears the young
Too Late the Phalarope, a novel by South African author Alan Paton

References

van Tuinen, Marcel; Waterhouse, David; Dyke, Gareth J. (2004). "Avian molecular systematics on the rebound: a fresh look at modern shorebird phylogenetic relationships". Journal of Avian Biology. 35 (3): 191–194. doi:10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03362.x.
Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 50, Vol. 6, p. 12.
Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 292.
"Phalarope". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 301. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Buttonquail, plovers, seedsnipe, sandpipers". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
Hugueney, Marguerite; Berthet, Didier; Bodergat, Anne-Marie; Escuillié, François; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Wattinne, Aurélia (2003). "La limite Oligocène-Miocène en Limagne: changements fauniques chez les mammifères, oiseaux et ostracodes des différents niveaux de Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)" [The Oligocene-Miocene boundary in Limagne: faunal changes in the mammals, birds and ostracods from the different levels of Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)]. Geobios. 36 (6): 719–731. Bibcode:2003Geobi..36..719H. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.01.002.
Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine. Ninox Press, Prague.
Paton, Tara A.; Baker, Allan J.; Groth, J.G.; Barrowclough, G.F. (2003). "RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 29 (2): 268–78. Bibcode:2003MolPE..29..268P. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8. PMID 13678682.
Rubega, M.A.; Obst, B.S. (1993). "Surface-tension feeding in Phalaropes: Discovery of a novel-feeding mechanism" (PDF). The Auk. 110 (2): 169–178.
Prakash, Manu; Quéré, David; Bush, John W. M. (2008). "Surface Tension Transport of Prey by Feeding Shorebirds: The Capillary Ratchet". Science. 320 (5878): 931–934. doi:10.1126/science.1156023. ISSN 0036-8075.
Neuroscience, Bear, Connors, Paradiso; Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins