Ciconiiformes
White Stork with chicks
The Ciconiiformes ( Ciconiiformes ), also referred to as stork birds or waders are a kinship group ( taxon ) of birds ( Aves). They belong to the large group of Neukiefervögel ( Neognathae ). Contrary to the traditional concept of the group Ciconiiformes only contain today the storks ( ciconiidae ).
Appearance and way of life
In terms of the physique and lifestyle storks can serve as a blueprint for Ciconiiformes: They are relatively tall and leggy and looking slowly border open ground or shallow, standing inland water animal food or wait there in wait for an opportunity to make prey. Rapid change of location are performed on the fly. According to the new view, however, are a stork -like habit and a stork -like nature of Foraging no compelling feature of a direct relationship of different bird families (eg between storks and herons ). Instead, these features are apparently not directly related to each other genetically bird families several times independently ( convergent ) developed (see scheme ).
System
The Ciconiiformes in the traditional sense are an order of the subclass Neognathae which the storks ( ciconiidae ), herons ( Ardeidae ), ibises and spoonbills the ( Threskiornithidae ), the Shoebill ( Balaenicipitidae ) and the hammer head ( Scopidae ) includes.
Charles Gald Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist examined the relationships of birds by DNA hybridization and came to a very broad wording of the Ciconiiformes, which included Charadriiformes, raptors, grebes, flamingos, Pelecaniformes, penguins, loons and Procellariiformes. However, the Sibley - Ahlquist taxonomy found general acceptance. Only the assignment of the New World vultures ( Cathartidae ) has been accepted by many scientists.
In the 1990s, DNA hybridization has been superseded by DNA sequencing, which allows direct comparison of DNA of the nucleus or the mitochondria ( mtDNA). Recent analysis based on this method show that herons, ibises and spoonbills, the Shoebill and the hammer head are more closely related to the pelicans as with the storks. Since these results experienced widespread acceptance among ornithologists, these taxa the Ruderfüßern ( Pelecaniformes ) are now consequently been assigned, and the Ciconiiformes are now monotypic with only one remaining family, the storks. The New World vultures have been assigned to the newly defined raptors ( Accipitriformes ).
The probable kinship relations are the following cladogram again. The traditionally the walking birds associated taxa are highlighted in bold (topology according to Hackett et al (2008), taxon names by Chesser et al ( 2011).. ):
Storks ( ciconiidae )
Suliformes ( cormorants, frigate birds, boobies, etc.)
Herons ( Ardeidae )
Ibises and Spoonbills ( Threskiornithidae )
Hammerhead ( Scopus )
Pelicans ( Pelecanus )
Shoebill ( Balaeniceps )