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Botaurus

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Description

Botaurus is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae. The genus name Botaurus was given by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens, and is derived from Medieval Latin butaurus, "bittern", itself constructed from the Middle English name for the Eurasian Bittern, Botor. Pliny gave a fanciful derivation from Bos (ox) and taurus (bull), because the bittern's call resembles the bellowing of a bull.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botaurus, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	2480909	https://www.gbif.org/species/2480909
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	39544	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=39544

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Pelecaniformes : Ardeidae : Botaurus

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
subclass	Eureptilia
-	Romeriida	Gauthier et al. 1988
-	Diapsida
-	Eosuchia
-	Neodiapsida	Benton 1985
-	Sauria	Gauthier 1984
-	Archosauromorpha
-	Crocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
-	Eucrocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauria
informal	Avemetatarsalia	Benton 1999
-	Ornithodira	Gauthier 1986
-	Dinosauromorpha	Benton 1985
-	Dinosauriformes	Novas 1992
-	Dinosauria
-	Saurischia
-	Theropoda
-	Neotheropoda	Bakker 1986
-	Averostra	Paul 2002
-	Tetanurae	Gauthier 1986
order	Avetheropoda	Paul 1988
suborder	Coelurosauria	Huene 1914
-	Maniraptora	Gauthier 1986
-	Paraves	Sereno 1997
class	Aves	Linnaeus 1758
-	Pygostylia	Chiappe 2002
-	Ornithothoraces	Chiappe and Calvo 1994
-	Ornithuromorpha	Chiappe et al. 1999
subclass	Ornithurae	Haeckel 1866
subclass	Neornithes	Gadow 1893
-	Neognathae
-	Neoaves	Sibley et al. 1988
-	Natatores	Baird 1858
-	Steganograllatores	Livezey and Zusi 2007
superorder	Pelecanimorphae	Huxley 1867
order	Pelecaniformes	Sharpe 1891
family	Ardeidae	Leach 1820
genus	Botaurus	Stephens 1819

Scientific Name

Botaurus Stephens, 1819

Name Published In

Stephens, James F. 1819. General Zoology, or Systematic natural history. J. Walker & al., London. Vol. 11:pt.2: (Aves) i-xxi, , 265-646, pls.18-52.

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Botaurus	genus	belongs to Ardeidae	implied	Carroll, 1988
Botaurus	genus	belongs to Ardeidae	stated without evidence	Emslie, 1992
Botaurus	genus	belongs to Ardeidae	stated with evidence	Clements et al., 2017

Status (PBDB)

extant

Taxon Size (PBDB)

Extant Size (PBDB)

5 (100%)

First Recorded Appearance

4.90 - 1.80 Ma
Cenozoic

Environment

terrestrial (based on Ardeidae)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Theropoda)

Diet

piscivore (based on Ardeidae)

Reproduction

oviparous, dispersal=direct/internal,mobile (based on Theropoda)

Ontogeny

accretion,modification of parts (based on Theropoda)

Taphonomy

hydroxylapatite,compact or dense (based on Theropoda)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution

Common Name(s)

Brown Bitterns

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botaurus

External Images

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Botaurus lentiginosus species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	American Bittern	8	4.90 Ma Pliocene	0 Ma Extant
Botaurus melanotus species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Botaurus pinnatus species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Pinnated Bittern			0 Ma Extant
Botaurus poeciloptilus species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Botaurus poiciloptilus species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Australasian Bittern			0 Ma Extant
Botaurus stellaris species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Great Bittern	1	0.01 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant

Obsolete Names

Name	Source	Taxon Rank	Taxonomy
Butaurus Smith, 1838	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Pelecaniformes : Ardeidae : *Butaurus*
Erogas Hogg, 1845	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Pelecaniformes : Ardeidae : *Erogas*
Bostaurus MacLeay, 1829	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Pelecaniformes : Ardeidae : *Bostaurus*

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1819	Botaurus Stephens
1988	Botaurus Carroll
1992	Botaurus Emslie p. 252
2014	Botaurus del Hoyo et al.
2017	Botaurus Clements et al.

References

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Emslie S. D. (1992) Two new late Blancan avifaunas from Florida and the extinction of wetland birds in the Plio-Pleistocene, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36, 249-269

del Hoyo J., Collar N. J., et al (2014) HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines, 1-904

Clements J. F., Schulenberg T. S., et al (2017) , The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017

Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes, 2003: null. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

CoL2006 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nomenclator Zoologicus (authority adjusted) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000/Monroe Jr. & Sibley, 1993, PaleoDB - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

WoRMS (Mar 2013) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

as per family - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

in Shaw, Gen. Zool. (Aves), 11 (2) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner, 1987: Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. 79. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Neave, Sheffield Airey. (1939-1996). Nomenclator Zoologicus vol. 1-10 Online. [developed by uBio, hosted online at MBLWHOI Library]. - via World Register of Marine Species

SN2000/Monroe Jr. & Sibley, 1993 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SOF (2007) Holarktis Fåglar, version 2. SOF:s Taxonomikommittés officiella lista över Holarktis fåglar - via Dyntaxa. Svensk taxonomisk databas

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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