''Phalacrocorax'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of fish-eating birds in the cormorant family

Phalacrocoracidae Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven gen ...

. Members of this genus are also known as the Old World cormorants.

Taxonomy

The

''Phalacrocorax'' was introduced by the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published works ...

in 1760 with the

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...

(''Phalacrocorax carbo'') as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. ''Phalacrocorax'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for a cormorant. Formerly, many other species of cormorant were classified in ''Phalacrocorax'', but most of these have been split out into different genera. A 2014 study found ''Phalacrocrax'' to be the sister genus to ''

Urile ''Urile'' is a genus of birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae, commonly known as North Pacific cormorants. It contains 3 extant and 1 recently extinct species, all of which are or were found in the North Pacific Ocean. Members of this genus were ...

'', which are thought to have split from each other between 8.9 - 10.3 million years ago.

Current taxonomy

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 found that the genus ''Phalacrocorax'' contains 12 species. This taxonomy was adopted by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

, and later by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Alternative taxonomies

Formerly, the genus ''Phalacrocorax'' included all members of the genera '' Poikilocarbo'', ''

'', '' Gulosus'', ''

Nannopterum ''Nannopterum'' is a genus of cormorant comprising three species. They are found throughout the Americas, hence the common name American cormorants. These species were formerly classified in the genus '' Phalacrocorax''. A molecular phylogenet ...

'', and the

rock shag The rock shag (''Leucocarbo magellanicus''), also known as the Magellanic cormorant, is a marine cormorant found around the southernmost coasts of South America. Its breeding range is from around Valdivia, Chile, south to Cape Horn and Tierra de ...

of ''

Leucocarbo ''Leucocarbo'' is a genus of birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae with the members commonly known as blue-eyed shags. This is a group of closely related cormorant taxa. Many have a blue, purple or red ring around the eye (not a blue iris); other ...

'', all of which are now understood to belong to different genera. The taxonomy adopted by the

Clements Checklist ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

classifies all cormorants aside from those already in ''

Microcarbo ''Microcarbo'' is a genus of fish-eating birds, known as cormorants, of the family Phalacrocoracidae. The genus was formerly subsumed within '' Phalacrocorax''. ''Microcarbo'' has been recognized as a valid genus by the IOC's World Bird List ...

'' into ''Phalacrocorax'', leaving just two cormorant genera: ''Phalacrocorax'' and ''Microcarbo''.

References

{{Authority control Bird genera