''Phalacrocorax'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

. 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 philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

in 1760 with the

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), also known as just cormorant in Britain, as black shag or kawau in New Zealand, formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and ...

(''Phalacrocorax carbo'') as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. ''Phalacrocorax'' is the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 Cormorant, 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 Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean. ...

'', 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 an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

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 i ...

, and later by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

Alternative taxonomies

Formerly, the genus ''Phalacrocorax'' often included all members of the family Phalacrocoracidae. More recently, some authorities, such as 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 ...

, recognized ''

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 ...

'' as distinct (due to its morphological distinctiveness and the old age of its split from the remaining cormorants), while retaining all other cormorants in a still-broad ''Phalacrocorax''. The IOC checklist went a step further in recognizing ''

Leucocarbo ''Leucocarbo'' is a genus of birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae. Several species within the genus are collectively known as blue-eyed shags. This is a group of closely related cormorant taxa. Many have a blue, purple or red ring around the ey ...

'' as well as ''Microcarbo'' as distinct (while retaining the rest in ''Phalacrocorax''), but this treatment rendered ''Phalacrocorax''

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

(with some members much more closely related to ''Leucocarbo'' than others). Nowadays, due to the age of the splits between different cormorant clades, most authorities, including the aforementioned two checklists, now recognize seven cormorant genera: ''

'', '' Poikilocarbo'', ''Phalacrocorax'', ''

'', '' 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 phylogenetic ...

'', and ''

''.

References

{{Authority control Bird genera