''Plegadis'' is a
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
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 ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Threskiornithidae
The family Threskiornithidae includes 36 species of large wading birds. The family has been traditionally classified into two subfamilies, the ibises and the spoonbills; however recent genetic studies have cast doubt on this arrangement, and hav ...
. The genus name derives from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''plegados'', "sickle", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.
Member species are found on every
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
except Antarctica as well as a number of islands. The glossy ibis is easily the most widespread of the three species. ''Plegadis'' contains the following three
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
:
A further two fossil species have been placed in the genus:
* ''
Plegadis paganus
''Gerandibis'' is an extinct genus of ibis known from fossil remains from early Miocene (Aquitanian) beds in France. It contains a single species, ''Gerandibis pagana'', which was originally described by Milne-Edwards in 1868 as ''Ibis pagana''. ...
'' from the Early
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
deposits in France; however, it is now placed in ''
Gerandibis pagana''.
* ''
Plegadis pharangites''
References
Ibises
Bird genera
Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Pelecaniformes-stub