Crane birds

Crane birds
Sandhill cranes ( Grus canadensis )
Systematics
Trunk : Chordates (chordata) Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata) Superclass : Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata) Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda) Class : Birds (aves) Order : Crane birds
Scientific name
Gruiformes
Bonaparte , 1854

The order of the crane birds (Gruiformes) traditionally includes almost 20 families , many of which are only known through fossils . They are small to very large birds that stride, run or swim. All crane birds flee the nest .

Traditional systematics

The Handbook of the Birds of the World lists the following eleven families as crane birds:

• Rush claws (Heliornithidae)
• Kagus (Rhynochetidae)
• Common crane (Gruidae)
• Rotary chicken (Turnicidae)
• Rallen (Rallidae)
• Clawed Cranes (Aramidae)
• Seriemas (Cariamidae)
• Sun claws (Eurypygidae)
• Stilt claws (Mesitornithidae)
• Bustards (Otididae)
• Trumpeter birds (Psophiidae)

Modern system

More recent phylogenetic analyzes leave only a core group of five families in the crane birds: the black-winged cranes, cranes, trumpet birds, rush-claws and walnuts. A new addition is the monotypical family Sarothruridae , which only consists of the genera Sarothrura and Mentocrex , which were previously included .

The chickens come to the plover-like (Charadriiformes). Stilt claws and bustards are placed in new monotypical orders (Mesitornithiformes and Otidiformes). The sister species Kagu and Sonnenrale form the new order Eurypygiformes and the Seriemas together with some extinct bird families form the order Cariamiformes .

The likely relationships of the remaining families are given in the following cladogram .

Crane birds	Common crane (Gruidae)      Clawed Cranes (Aramidae)      Trumpeter birds (Psophiidae)      Sarothruridae      Rush claws (Heliornithidae)      Rallen (Rallidae)

In addition to the recent ones, the following families of extinct birds are counted among the crane birds:

• Messelrallen (Messelornithidae) †
• Eogruidae †, Late Eocene to Early Oligocene from Asia
• Ergilornithidae †, Early Oligocene from Asia and Late Pliocene to Miocene from Asia and Europe
• Geranoididae †, Early and Middle Eocene of North America
• Aptornithidae †, endemic to New Zealand

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1. ↑ Handbook of the Birds of the World - Volume 3
2. ^ IOC World Bird List
3. ^ Frank Gill and Minturn Wright: Birds of the World. Recommended English Names. Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-7136-7904-2 .
4. ↑ Per GP Ericson et al .: Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils . Biol. Lett. doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2006.0523
5. ↑ Hackett et al .: A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History. Science, June 27, 2008. Vol. 320, no. 5884: 1763-1768 doi : 10.1126 / science.1157704 .
6. ^ Alan Feduccia: The Origin and Evolution of the Birds. 2nd ed., Yale University Press, New Haven / London, 1999, ISBN 0-300-07861-7 .

Web links

Commons : Crane Birds (Gruiformes)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• John Harshman: Gruiformes. Cranes, rails, coots, and allies. Version June 27, 2008, in The Tree of Life Web Project .