Recurvirostridae

Banded stilts Cladorhynchus leucocephalus, from here.

Belongs within: Charadriiformes.

The Recurvirostridae is a small family of wading birds with relatively long legs, necks and bills, and usually contrasting black and white or red, black and white plumage (one species, Himantopus novaezelandiae, is entirely black). Recurvirostrids are characterised by having the tarsus at least twice the length of, and the naked portion of the thigh much longer than, the middle toe. Three modern genera are included in the family: Recurvirostra, the avocets, have the bills turned up at the end whereas the two genera of stilts, the cosmopolitan Himantopus and the Australian Cladorhynchus, have straight bills. Their long legs and bills allow them to feed on small aquatic invertebrates by wading in up to their belly. Avocets tend to feed in a sweeping fashion, scything their beak side to side within the water column.

<==Recurvirostridae [Avocettidae, Recurvirostrinae]
    |  i. s.: Coltonia recurvirostra FP64
    |         Fluviatilavis Harrison 1983 U93, M02
    |           `--*F. antunesi Harrison 1983 M02
    |--Recurvirostra Linnaeus 1758 JT12, CC10 [=Avocetta Brisson 1760 CC10]
    |    |  i. s.: R. novaehollandiae Vieillot 1816 (see below for synonymy) CC10
    |    |         R. sanctanebulae Mourer-Chauviré 1978 M09
    |    |--*R. avosetta CC10, JT12 [=*Avocetta avosetta CC10]
    |    `--+--R. americana JT12
    |       `--R. andina JT12
    `--Himantopodinae LZ07
         |--Cladorhynchus [Cladorhynchini] JT12
         |    |--C. leucocephalus (Vieillot 1816) (see below for synonymy) WS48
         |    `--C. pectoralis N87
         `--Himantopus Brisson 1760 JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
              |  i. s.: H. chettusia D56
              |         H. melanurus RN72
              |         H. nigricollis SS66
              |--H. novaezelandiae Gould 1841 JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
              `--+--H. mexicanus JT12 [=H. himantopus mexicanus FS55]
                 `--+--*H. himantopus (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                    |    |--H. h. himantopus USDI77
                    |    `--H. h. knudseni USDI77
                    `--H. leucocephalus Gould 1837 JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)

Nomen nudum: Himantopus brevipes Milne-Edwards 1871 M02

Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieillot 1816) [=Recurvirostra leucocephala; incl. C. leucocephalus rottnesti Mathews 1912] WS48

Himantopus Brisson 1760 JT12, CC10 [=Hypsibates Nitzsch in Ersch & Gruber 1827 CC10; Himantopodidae, Himantopodini]

*Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, JT12, CC10 [=Charadrius himantopus CC10, *Hypsibates himantopus CC10; incl. H. ceylonensis SU93]

Himantopus leucocephalus Gould 1837 JT12, CC10 [=Hi. himantopus leucocephalus CC10; incl. Hi. albicollis Buller 1875 non Vieillot 1817 CC10, Hi. albus Ellman 1861 CC10, Hypsibates leucocephalus albus CC10, Hy. leucocephalus assimilis Mathews 1912 WS48, Hi. picatus Ellman 1861 CC10, Hi. seebohmi picata CC10]

Himantopus novaezelandiae Gould 1841 JT12, CC10 [=Hi. himantopus novaezelandiae CC10, Hi. novaezealandiae CC10, Hypsibates novaezealandiae CC10; incl. Hi. melas Hombron & Jacquinot 1841 CC10, Hi. niger Ellman 1861 CC10, Hi. spicatus Potts 1873] CC10

Recurvirostra novaehollandiae Vieillot 1816 [=Recurvirostris (l. c.) novaehollandiae; incl. Avocetta novaezealandiae Ellman 1861, R. rubricollis Temminck 1823] CC10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[D56] Dawes, B. 1956. The Trematoda with special reference to British and other European forms. University Press: Cambridge.

[FS55] Felten, H., & J. Steinbacher. 1955. Zur Vogelfauna von El Salvador. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36 (1–2): 9–19.

[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[LZ07] Livezey, B. C., & R. L. Zusi. 2007. Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (1): 1–95.

[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[N87] North, A. J. 1887. List of references to authentic descriptions of Australian birds' eggs. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1163–1174.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 1. London, Blandford Press.

[SS66] Sclater, P. L., & O. Salvin. 1866. On some additions to the catalogue of birds collected by Mr. E. Bartlett on the River Ucayali. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 566–567.

[SU93] Sonobe, K., & S. Usui (eds.) 1993. A Field Guide to the Waterbirds of Asia. Wild Bird Society of Japan: Tokyo.

[U93] Unwin, D. M. 1993. Aves. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 717–737. Chapman & Hall: London.

[USDI77] USDI (United States Department of the Interior). 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.

Last updated: 15 August 2019.