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Strisores
Strisores ( ), sometimes called nightbirds, is a clade of birds that includes the living family (biology), families and order (biology), orders Caprimulgidae (nightjars, nighthawks and allies), Nyctibiidae (potoos), Steatornithidae (oilbirds), Podargidae (frogmouths), Apodiformes (swifts and hummingbirds), as well as the Aegotheliformes (owlet-nightjars) whose distinctness was only recently realized. The Apodiformes (which include the "Trochiliformes" of the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy) and the Aegotheliformes form the Apodimorphae, Daedalornithes. Description The material evidence for this group is very equivocal; the most ancient Strisores are quite nondescript tree-dwellers but already tend towards peculiarly apomorphic feet, and no Cretaceous fossils are known. Torpor and other metabolic peculiarities are frequently found in this group, perhaps more often than in any other bird lineage. The synapomorphies that define this clade are the ''ossa maxillaria'' separated by a large c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanescaves
Vanescaves is a probable clade of Strisores, strisorean birds that include the clades Oilbird, Steatornithiformes (the oilbird), Potoo, Nyctibiiformes (the potoos), Frogmouth, Podargiformes (frogmouths), and Apodimorphae, Apodimorphae (owlet-nightjars, swifts, and hummingbirds). Some molecular studies do support the grouping of these birds, others offer conflicting positions of the non-apodimorphaean strisoreans. In 2019 the authors Chen ''et al.'' performed a combined analysis using 2289 ultra-conserved elements [UCEs], 117 morphological characters from extant and fossil taxa found support in this clade. The authors then proposed to name this group, which its meaning is Latin for "vanish birds" in reference to the disparate nature of their geographic distribution, as well as to the poem "A Route of Evanescence" by the American poet Emily Dickinson which features a hummingbird as the main subject. In 2020 Chen & Field named the two major subclades of this group, with Sedentaves (oi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apodimorphae
Apodimorphae is a clade of strisorean birds that include the extant families Trochilidae (hummingbirds), Hemiprocnidae (treeswifts), Apodidae (swifts), Aegothelidae (owlet-nightjars), and many fossil families. This grouping of birds has been supported in a variety of recent studies. There are two higher classification schemes that have been proposed for the apodimorph families. One is all strisorean birds are classified in the order Caprimulgiformes, while the other is the strisorean birds are split into several distinct orders. In this case Apodimorphae is a subclade of Strisores that includes the orders Aegotheliformes (only including the owlet-nightjars of Australasia) and the Apodiformes (the swifts, treeswifts, and hummingbirds which have a global distribution). The name Daedalornithes has also been used for the clade comprising owlet-nightjars, hummingbirds, and swifts. Daedalornithes and Apodimorphae have different definitions. Daedalornithes is defined as the crown g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caprimulgiformes
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called bugeaters, their primary source of food being insects. Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word ''nightjar'' originally referred to the European nightjar. Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica, and certain island groups such as the Seychelles. They can be found in a variety of habitats, most commonly the open country with some vegetation. They usually nest on the ground, with a habit of resting and roosting on roads. The subfamilies of nightjars have similar characteristics, including small feet, of little use for walking, and long, pointed wings. Typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage. The colour of their plumage and their unusual perching habits help conceal them during the day. Sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frogmouths
The frogmouths (Podargidae) are a group of nocturnal birds related to owlet-nightjars, swift (bird), swifts, and hummingbirds. Species in the group are distributed in the Indomalayan realm, Indomalayan and Australasian realms. Biology They are named for their large flattened hooked bill and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects. The three ''Podargus'' species are large frogmouths restricted to Australia and New Guinea, that have massive flat broad bills. They are known to take larger prey, such as small vertebrates (frogs, mice, etc.), which are sometimes beaten against a stone before swallowing. The ten ''Batrachostomus'' frogmouths are found in tropical Asia. They have smaller, more rounded bills and are predominantly insectivorous. Both ''Podargus'' and ''Batrachostomus'' have bristles around the base of the bill, and ''Batrachostomus'' has other, longer bristles which may exist to protect the eyes from insect prey. In April 2007, a new species of frogmouth wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oilbird
The oilbird (''Steatornis caripensis''), locally known as the , is a bird species found in the northern areas of South America including the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is the only living species in the genus ''Steatornis'', the family Steatornithidae, and the order Steatornithiformes. Nesting in colonies in caves, oilbirds are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the List of plants known as oil palm, oil palm and tropical Lauraceae, laurels. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world (the kākāpō, also nocturnal, is flightless). They forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. However, they navigate by Animal echolocation, echolocation in the same way as bats, one of the few birds to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans. Taxonomy and etymology Oilbirds are related to the nightjars and have sometimes been placed with these in the order (biology), order Caprimulgiformes. However, the ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steatornithidae
Steatornithidae is an family of birds comprising a single extant species, the oilbird (''Steatornis caripensis'') and the extinct genus '' Euronyctibius''. Steatornithidae is currently considered the only member of the order Steatornithiformes, however, in the past, it was classified in the order Caprimulgiformes, along with all other members of the clade Strisores. Prior to the Hackett et al. phylogeny most taxonomies circumscribed Caprimulgiformes as a paraphyletic comprising the nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ... strisoreans. References Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Steatornithiformes Bird families {{Steatornithiformes-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyctibiidae
Potoos (family Nyctibiidae) are a group of birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. The family Nyctibiidae was formerly included with the nightjars in the order Caprimulgiformes but is now placed in a separate order, Nyctibiiformes. There are seven species in two genera in tropical Central and South America. Fossil evidence indicates that they also inhabited Europe during the Paleogene. Potoos are nocturnal insectivores that lack the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. They hunt from a perch like a shrike or flycatcher. During the day they perch upright on tree stumps, camouflaged to look like part of the stump. The single spotted egg is laid directly on the top of a stump. In Argentina, they are known as kakuy or cacuy from Quechua meaning 'to remain'. In Bolivia they are called ''guajojo'', for the sound of their call. In Brazil and Paraguay, they are called urutau from Guaraní ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trochiliformes
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Central America, Central and South America. As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are listed as Endangered species, endangered or critically endangered, with numerous species declining in population. Hummingbirds have varied specialized characteristics to enable rapid, maneuverable flight: exceptional metabolism, metabolic capacity, adaptations to high altitude, sensitive visual and communication abilities, and long-distance migration in some species. Among all birds, male hummingbirds have the widest diversity of plumage color, particularly in blues, greens, and purples. Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds, measuring in length. The smallest is the bee hummingbird, which weighs less than , and the largest is the giant hummingbird, weig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aegotheliformes
Owlet-nightjars are small crepuscular birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. A flightless bird, flightless species from New Zealand is extinct. There is a single monotypic family Aegothelidae with the genus ''Aegotheles''. Owlet-nightjars are insectivores which hunt mostly in the air but sometimes on the ground; their soft plumage is a cryptic mixture of browns and paler shades, they have fairly small, weak feet (but larger and stronger than those of a frogmouth or a nightjar), a tiny bill that opens extraordinarily wide, surrounded by prominent whiskers. The wings are short, with 10 primaries and about 11 secondaries; the tail long and rounded. Systematics A comprehensive 2003 study analyzing mtDNA DNA sequence, sequences of Cytochrome b and ATPase subunit 8 suggests that 12 living species of owlet-nightjar should be recognized, as well as another that became extinct ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apodiformes
The Apodiformes is an Order (biology), order, or Taxonomy, taxonomic grouping, of Bird, birds which traditionally contained three living Family (biology), families—the Swift (bird), Apodidae (swifts), the Treeswift, Hemiprocnidae (treeswifts), and the Hummingbird, Trochilidae (hummingbirds); however, in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is elevated to the superorder Apodimorphae, in which hummingbirds are separated into a new order, the Trochiliformes. With nearly 450 species identified to date, it is the most diverse order of birds after the passerine, Passeriformes (the "perching" birds). Description, etymology and taxonomy As the name ''apodiforme''—meaning "footless" in Greek language, Greek—suggests, the legs of hummingbirds, swifts and treeswifts (or 'crested' swifts) are rather small and offer limited functional uses, aside from perching; their feet are covered with bare skin, rather than the Scute, scutes seen on many birds. Another commonality amongst Apodif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trochilidae
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Central America, Central and South America. As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are listed as Endangered species, endangered or critically endangered, with numerous species declining in population. Hummingbirds have varied specialized characteristics to enable rapid, maneuverable flight: exceptional metabolism, metabolic capacity, adaptations to high altitude, sensitive visual and communication abilities, and long-distance migration in some species. Among all birds, male hummingbirds have the widest diversity of plumage color, particularly in blues, greens, and purples. Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds, measuring in length. The smallest is the bee hummingbird, which weighs less than , and the largest is the giant hummingbird, weig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpor
Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the time a hibernator spends at low body temperature, lasting days to weeks, or it can refer to a period of low body temperature and metabolism lasting less than 24 hours. The word comes from the early 13th century, originating from the Latin, ''torpor'', to be numb or sluggish. Animals that undergo torpor include birds (hummingbirds, notably strisores) and some mammals, including many marsupial species, rodent species (such as mice), and bats. During the active part of their day, such animals maintain normal body temperature and activity levels, but their metabolic rate and body temperature drop during a portion of the day (usually night) to conserve energy. Some animals seasonally go into long periods of inactivity, with reduced body temperat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
