The

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Threskiornithidae includes 36 species of large wading birds. The family has been traditionally classified into two subfamilies, the

ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...

es and the spoonbills; however recent genetic studies have cast doubt on this arrangement, and have found the spoonbills to be nested within the Old World ibises, and the New World ibises as an early offshoot.

Taxonomy

The family Threskiornithidae was formerly known as Plataleidae. The spoonbills and ibises were once thought to be related to other groups of long-legged wading birds in the order Ciconiiformes. A recent study found that they are members of the order Pelecaniformes. In response to these findings, the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) recently reclassified Threskiornithidae and their sister taxa Ardeidae under the order Pelecaniformes instead of the previous order of Ciconiiformes. Whether the two subfamilies are reciprocally

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

is an open question. The South American Checklist Committee's entry for the Threskiornithidae includes the following comment "Two subfamilies are traditionally (e.g., Matheu & del Hoyo 1992) recognized: Threskiornithinae for ibises and Plataleinae for spoonbills; because the main distinction has to do with bill shape, additional information, especially genetic, is required to recognize a major, deep split in the family." A study of

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

of the spoonbills plus the

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

and

scarlet ibis The scarlet ibis (''Eudocimus ruber'') is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but ...

es found that the spoonbills formed a clade with old world genus '' Threskiornis'', with '' Nipponia nippon'' and ''

Eudocimus ''Eudocimus'' is a genus of ibises, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae. They occur in the warmer parts of the New World with representatives from the southern United States south through Central America, the West Indies, and Sout ...

'' as progressively earlier offshoots and more distant relatives, and hence casts doubt on the arrangement of the family into ibis and spoonbill subfamilies. Subsequent studies have supported these findings, the spoonbills forming a monophyletic clade within the "widespread" clade of ibises, including ''Plegadis'' and ''Threskiornis'', while the "new World Endemic" clade is formed by the genera restricted to the Americas such as ''Eudocimus'' and ''Theristicus''.

Description

Members of the family have long, broad wings with 11 primary

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premie ...

s and about 20 secondaries. They are strong fliers and, rather surprisingly, given their size and weight, very capable soarers. The body tends to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the

es, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills. They are large birds, but mid-sized by the standards of their order, ranging from the dwarf olive ibis (''Bostrychia bocagei''), at and , to the giant ibis (''Thaumatibis gigantea''), at and .

Distribution and ecology

They are distributed almost worldwide, being found near almost any area of standing or slow-flowing fresh or brackish water. Ibises are also found in drier areas, including

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...

s. The Llanos are notable in that these wetland plains support seven species of ibis in the one region. All ibises are diurnal; spending the day feeding on a wide range of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...

s and small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with ...

s: ibises by probing in soft earth or mud, spoonbills by swinging the bill from side to side in shallow water. At night, they roost in trees near water. They are gregarious, feeding, roosting, and flying together, often in formation. Nesting is colonial in ibises, more often in small groups or singly in spoonbills, nearly always in trees overhanging water, but sometimes on islands or small islands in swamps. Generally, the female builds a large structure out of reeds and sticks brought by the male. Typical clutch size is two to five; hatching is asynchronic. Both sexes incubate in shifts, and after hatching feed the young by partial regurgitation. Two or three weeks after hatching, the young no longer need to be brooded continuously and may leave the nest, often forming creches but returning to be fed by the parents.

Species

Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) at Bharatpur I IMG 5670

FAMILY: THRESKIORNITHIDAE * Subfamily: Threskiornithinae – Ibises ** Genus '' Threskiornis'' ***

African sacred ibis The African sacred ibis (''Threskiornis aethiopicus'') is a species of ibis, a wading bird of the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to much of Africa, as well as small parts of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. It is especially known for its rol ...

, ''Threskiornis aethiopicus'' *** Malagasy sacred ibis, ''Threskiornis bernieri'' *** † Reunion ibis, ''Threskiornis solitarius''

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

*** Black-headed ibis, ''Threskiornis melanocephalus'' *** Australian white ibis, ''Threskiornis molucca'' ****

Solomons white ibis The Australian white ibis (''Threskiornis molucca'') is a wading bird of the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is widespread across much of Australia. It has a predominantly white plumage with a bare, black head, long downcurved bill and ...

, ''Threskiornis molucca pygmaeus'' *** Straw-necked ibis, ''Threskiornis spinicollis'' ** Genus '' Pseudibis'' ***

Red-naped ibis The red-naped ibis (''Pseudibis papillosa'') also known as the Indian black ibis or black ibis is a species of ibis found in the plains of the Indian Subcontinent. Unlike other ibises in the region it is not very dependent on water and is often ...

, ''Pseudibis papillosa'' ***

White-shouldered ibis The white-shouldered ibis (''Pseudibis davisoni'') is a large species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to small regions of Southeast Asia, and is considered to be one of the most threatened bird species on this part of the c ...

, ''Pseudibis davisoni'' ** Genus ''Thaumatibis'' *** Giant ibis, ''Thaumatibis gigantea'' ** Genus '' Geronticus'' *** Northern bald ibis, ''Geronticus eremita'' *** Southern bald ibis, ''Geronticus calvus'' ** Genus ''Nipponia'' *** Crested ibis, ''Nipponia nippon '' ** Genus '' Bostrychia'' ***

Olive ibis The olive ibis (''Bostrychia olivacea'') is a species of ibis native to dense tropical forests in central Africa. Between 65 and 75 cm in length, it is a small ibis with olive plumage displaying a iridescent sheen. Four subspecies are recog ...

, ''Bostrychia olivacea'' *** São Tomé ibis, ''Bostrychia bocagei'' ***

Spot-breasted ibis The spot-breasted ibis (''Bostrychia rara'') is a small, forest-dwelling ibis found in African lowland forests and swampy forested areas. Its preference for dense rainforests in tropical Africa means that it is seldom seen and is vulnerable to de ...

, ''Bostrychia rara'' *** Hadada ibis, ''Bostrychia hagedash'' *** Wattled ibis, ''Bostrychia carunculata'' ** Genus '' Theristicus'' *** Plumbeous ibis, ''Theristicus caerulescens'' ***

Buff-necked ibis The buff-necked ibis (''Theristicus caudatus''), also known as the white-throated ibis, is a fairly large ibis found widely in open habitats of eastern and northern South America. It formerly included the similar black-faced ibis as a subspecies, ...

, ''Theristicus caudatus'' ***

Black-faced ibis The black-faced ibis (''Theristicus melanopis'') is a species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is found in grassland and fields in southern and western South America. It has been included as a subspecies of the similar buff-necked i ...

, ''Theristicus melanopis'' ** Genus ''Cercibis'' *** Sharp-tailed ibis, ''Cercibis oxycerca'' ** Genus ''Mesembrinibis'' *** Green ibis, ''Mesembrinibis cayennensis'' ** Genus ''Phimosus'' ***

Bare-faced ibis The bare-faced ibis (''Phimosus infuscatus''), also known as the whispering ibis, is a species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae, in the monotypic genus ''Phimosus''. Distribution It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuado ...

, ''Phimosus infuscatus'' ** Genus ''

'' ***

American white ibis The American white ibis (''Eudocimus albus'') is a species of bird in the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is found from Virginia via the Gulf Coast of the United States south through most of the coastal New World tropics. This particular ibis ...

, ''Eudocimus albus'' ***

Scarlet ibis The scarlet ibis (''Eudocimus ruber'') is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but ...

, ''Eudocimus ruber'' ** Genus '' Plegadis'' *** Glossy ibis, ''Plegadis falcinellus'' ***

White-faced ibis The white-faced ibis (''Plegadis chihi'') is a wading bird in the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. This species breeds colonially in marshes, usually nesting in bushes or low trees. Its breeding range extends from the western United States south ...

, ''Plegadis chihi'' *** Puna ibis, ''Plegadis ridgwayi'' ** Genus ''Lophotibis'' ***

Madagascar ibis The Madagascar ibis (''Lophotibis cristata''), also known as the Madagascar crested ibis, white-winged ibis or crested wood ibis, is a medium-sized (approximately 50 cm long), brown-plumaged ibis. It has bare red orbital skin, yellow bill, ...

, ''Lophotibis cristata'' * Subfamily: Plataleinae – Spoonbills ** Genus ''Platalea'' *** Eurasian spoonbill, ''Platalea leucorodia *** Black-faced spoonbill, ''Platalea minor'' ***

African spoonbill The African spoonbill (''Platalea alba'') is a long-legged wading birdRoyal spoonbill, ''Platalea regia'' *** Yellow-billed spoonbill, ''Platalea flavipes'' *** Roseate spoonbill, ''Platalea ajaja''

References

External links

Threskiornithidae videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q162085 Bird families Extant Ypresian first appearances Taxa named by Charles Wallace Richmond