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Ardeidae (1 Viewer)

Bubulcus

MJB said:
Hrushka's 2018 dissertation (signed off by Robert Moyle) generally agrees with Zhou et al 2014, but has a different view on some of the sister relationships. Black Bittern it seems has long been considered in Ixobrychus by a sizeable number of researchers, but there's still much to be worked out on Ardea & Egretta's subtleties....
MJB
Click to expand...

Hruska, 2018:
Recognize Bubulcus ibis as member of the genus Ardea
Given the strong support I recovered for the placement of Bubulcus ibis as embedded within Ardea, I recommend that Bubulcus ibis be synonymized with the genus Ardea, Linnaeus, 1758, which has priority.
Click to expand...
[pdf]

Gyeongmin Kim, Kyu Cheol Jeong, Eun Hwa Choi, Shi Hyun Ryu, Young Jin Lim, Jumin Jun, Young-Sup Lee & Ui Wook Hwang (2019) The complete mitochondrial genome of an Asian crested ibis Nipponia nippon (Pelecaniformes, Threskiornithidae) from South Korea, Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 4:2, 3707-3708, DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2019.1680321

[pdf]
 
Mysticete said:
Of course I am biased...I am almost certain Northwestern Crow is going to get lumped so I would like my ABA list to at least hold steady :p
Click to expand...

Even if that doesn't happen, I don't see how I can honestly identify the crows in my front yard as Northwestern Crow any more. They would really have to be American/Northwestern.
 
Peter Kovalik said:
Hruska, 2018:

Recognize Bubulcus ibis as member of the genus Ardea
Given the strong support I recovered for the placement of Bubulcus ibis as embedded within Ardea, I recommend that Bubulcus ibis be synonymized with the genus Ardea, Linnaeus, 1758, which has priority.
Click to expand...


The other option (perhaps better) would be to retain Bubulcus, and split Ardea into two genera, Ardea s.str., and [presumably?] Casmerodius (for Aa. alba, intermedia, pacifica).
 
Mysticete said:
Wonder what this says about the proposal to split Great Blue Heron that is currently in progress.

Of course I am biased...I am almost certain Northwestern Crow is going to get lumped so I would like my ABA list to at least hold steady :p
Click to expand...

Commiserations, Latest IOC proposal.

June 16 Post PL of Northwestern Crow with American Crow (Slager et al. 2020; NACC 2020-C-15)
 
Nutcracker said:
The other option (perhaps better) would be to retain Bubulcus, and split Ardea into two genera, Ardea s.str., and [presumably?] Casmerodius (for Aa. alba, intermedia, pacifica).
Click to expand...

The best option, but also recognising Myola and Mesophoyx. Unfortunately, the divergence time is not indicated.
 
andyadcock said:
Commiserations, Latest IOC proposal.

June 16 Post PL of Northwestern Crow with American Crow (Slager et al. 2020; NACC 2020-C-15)
Click to expand...

Other than the single tear shed for my list potentially going down by one species, I am actually 100% okay with this. This is one of those situations where I think even split happy birders have considered this a dubious species.

Although I thought for sure Redpolls would all be lumped, and they didn't, so who knows?
 
Black-backed Bittern (Australian Little Bittern)

This is currently listed by IOC as Ixobrychus dubius Mathews, 1912; described here as Ixobrychus minutus dubius along with Ixobrychus minutus pusillus (Vieillot, 1817).

But why is the species not Ixobrychus pusillus (Vieillot, 1817), based on Vieillot's Ardea pusilla (here), also described from Australia? From Gould's illustration here (as Ardetta pusilla (Vieillot, 1817)), it is clearly the same taxon, nearly a century older than Mathews' name.
 
M. Ralph Browning and James A. Kushlan (2022) The Great White Heron is a species. Heron Conservation 7: 1.
www.HeronConservation.org/JHBC/vol07/art01/

Abstract
The Great White Heron was considered a separate species for nearly 140 years from the time of its original description (1835) by John James Audubon as Ardea occidentalis until 1973 when it was synonymized with the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) by the American Ornithologists' Union Committee on Classification and Nomenclature. Recent studies and syntheses have supported its re-elevation to full species status, a finding accepted by international authorities. In 2020, American Ornithological Society's North American Classification Committee declined to accept a change in status. The present paper summarizes arguments and presents further information that support recognition of the Great White Heron, Ardea occidentalis, as a species distinct from the Great Blue Heron.
 
academic.oup.com

Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae)

Abstract. Thoroughly sampled and well-supported phylogenetic trees are essential to taxonomy and to guide studies of evolution and ecology. Despite extensive pr
academic.oup.com academic.oup.com


Abstract
Thoroughly sampled and well-supported phylogenetic trees are essential to taxonomy and to guide studies of evolution and ecology. Despite extensive prior inquiry, a comprehensive tree of heron relationships (Aves: Ardeidae) has not yet been published. As a result, the classification of this family remains unstable, and their evolutionary history remains poorly studied. Here, we sample genome-wide ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and mitochondrial DNA sequences (mtDNA) of >90% of extant species to estimate heron phylogeny using a combination of maximum likelihood (ML), coalescent, and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The UCE and mtDNA trees are mostly concordant with one another, providing a topology that resolves relationships among the 5 heron subfamilies and indicates that the genera Gorsachius, Botaurus, Ardea, and Ixobrychus are not monophyletic. We also present the first genetic data from the Forest Bittern Zonerodius heliosylus, an enigmatic species of New Guinea; our results suggest that it is a member of the genus Ardeola and not the Tigrisomatinae (tiger herons), as previously thought. Lastly, we compare molecular rates between heron clades in the UCE tree with those in previously constructed mtDNA and DNA-DNA hybridization trees. We show that rate variation in the UCE tree corroborates rate patterns in the previously constructed trees—that bitterns (Ixobrychus and Botaurus) evolved comparatively faster, and some tiger herons (Tigrisoma) and the Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius) more slowly, than other heron taxa.

Yes, yeees!!! I need it!!!!
 
Despite the recommendations of the authors, I remain convinced that "Ixobrychus" exilis and involucris should be placed in two different genera because of their small size, and not lumped in Botaurus I will also not touch the taxonomy of the genus Ardea that I have adopted, ie a split into 3 genera: Casmerodius, Bubulcus and Ardea, although the position of Ardea insignis is unstable. I keep picata in Tonophoyx because I don't find no features in common with Egretta. n the other hand, it seems to share characteristics with the Ardea, such as its large yellow thick beak. For the moment, I leave it among the "Aigrettes" but I do not rule out the idea of making it a "Héron".
 
Their recommendations seem to be to have as less changes as possible.

I see several clades in the Ixobrychus/Botaurus group, all worthy of recognition:
  • involucris
  • exilis
  • lentiginosus/pinnatus/stellaris/poiciloptilus
  • flavicollis
  • eurhythmus/cinnamomeus
  • sturmii
  • minutus/sinensis/dubius

A lot of combinations possible for genera...
Feels weird to go with a 2 genera solution, I'd even prefer lumping everything in Botaurus (though I'd go with a 5 or 6 genera treatment)

It reminds me of the Skua situation - where Pomarine is closer to the group of larger birds than to Parasitic & Long-tailed...
 

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