Coots
| Coots | ||||||||||
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Comb coot ( Fulica cristata ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Fulica | ||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The coots ( Fulica ) are water birds from the railing family . The genus is distributed worldwide. The center of diversity is in South America, where eight of the ten recent species occur. The coots reach sizes from 33 to 59 centimeters. Their plumage is either completely black or dark gray-black. In most species, however, the edge of the under tail-covers is white. The coots were previously placed in their own subfamily Fulicinae, but they are closely related to the pond claws ( Gallinula ) both in terms of their skeletal structure and plumage . Coots have a relatively long, narrow tank. The protruding forehead shields are characteristic of most species, but the trunk coot ( Fulica cornuta ) has an expandable and erect trunk at the edge of its beak. The coloring of the beak, the frontal shield and the legs varies significantly between the species. In the Andean coot ( Fulica ardesiaca ) there are two color morphs, which differ from each other in the coloration of the featherless areas.
Systematics
Ten recent types are distinguished:
- Fulica atra Linneus , 1758 Coot Distribution: Eurasia , Africa , Australia . Fulica prior and Fulica australis are synonyms.
- Fulica cristata Gmelin , 1789 Comb coot Distribution: Africa and Madagascar
- Fulica alai Peale , 1848 - Hawaiian coot or ʻAlae keʻokeʻo Distribution: Hawaii
- Fulica americana Gmelin , 1789 - American coot Distribution: North, Central and South America. The carib coot ( Fulica caribaea ) Ridgway , 1884 , found in the Antilles, is now considered a synonym for the American coot.
- Fulica leucoptera Vieillot , 1817 - White-winged coot Distribution: Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Chile , Falkland Islands , Paraguay , Uruguay
- Fulica ardesiaca Tschudi , 1843 - Andean coot Distribution: Argentina , Bolivia , Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru
- Fulica armillata Vieillot , 1817 - Yellow-billed coot Distribution: Argentina , southern Brazil , Chile , Paraguay , Uruguay
- Fulica rufifrons Philippi & Landbeck , 1861 - Red-fronted coot Distribution: Argentina , southern Brazil , Chile , Paraguay , southern Peru , Uruguay
- Fulica gigantea Eydoux & Souleyet , 1841 - Giant coot Distribution: Argentina , Bolivia , Chile , Peru
- Fulica cornuta Bonaparte , 1853 - Proboscis Coot Distribution: Argentina , Bolivia , Chile
On the other hand, the following are extinct:
- Fulica newtoni Milne-Edwards , 1867 - Mascarene coot (Mauritius and Réunion) - Extinct around 1700
- Fulica chathamensis Forbes , 1892 - Chatham Coot ( Chatham Islands ) - Extinct in the Holocene
- Fulica prisca Hamilton , 1893 - New Zealand coot ( New Zealand ) - Extinct in the Holocene
- Fulica infelix Brodkorb , 1961 ( Malheur County , Oregon ) - fossil from the Lower Pliocene of North America
- Fulica americana shufeldti (formerly Fulica shufeldti ) Brodkorb , 1964 (fossil from the Pleistocene of North America) - Fulica minor Shufeldt , 1892 is an invalid synonym .
- Fulica stekelesi Tchernov , 1968 (Israel, Middle Pleistocene)
- The extinct Barbados railroad was originally classified as Fulica podagrica . According to Storrs Lovejoy Olson , however, the fossil material found is a mixture of different types of rail, including at least one undescribed taxon that does not belong to the genus Fulica .
literature
- Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliot, Jordi Sargatal : Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1996, ISBN 84-87334-20-2 .
- Sidney Dillon Ripley: Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae . Codline. Boston 1977, ISBN 0-87474-804-6 .
- P. Barry Taylor & Ber van Perlo: Rails: A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules, and Coots of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven 1998, ISBN 0-300-07758-0 .
