The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Despite the group being classified as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semiarid habitats.

Taxonomy

The family Burhinidae was introduced in 1912 for the stone-curlews by Australian ornithologist

Gregory Mathews Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England. Life He was born in Biamble in New South Wales the son of Robert H. M ...

. The family contains three genera: ''

Hesperoburhinus ''Hesperoburhinus'' is a genus of birds in the stone-curlew family Stone-curlew, Burhinidae. The genus is distributed in Middle America (Americas), Middle and South America. It contains two species, the double-striped thick-knee and the Peruvian ...

'', ''

Burhinus ''Burhinus'' is a genus of birds in the family Burhinidae. This family also contains the genus ''Esacus''.del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (1996) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'', ''vol 3.'' Lynx, Barcelona The genus name ''Burhinus'' com ...

'' and ''

Esacus ''Esacus'' is a genus of bird in the stone-curlew family Burhinidae. The genus is distributed from Pakistan and India to Australia. It contains two species, the great stone-curlew and the beach stone-curlew. Taxonomy The genus ''Esacus'' was i ...

''. The name ''Burhinus'' combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''bous'' meaning "ox" and ''rhis'', ''rhinos'' meaning "nose" (or "bill").

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 ...

studies have shown that the family Burhinidae is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

containing the sheathbills in the family Chionidae and the

Magellanic plover The Magellanic plover (''Pluvianellus socialis'') is a rare wader endemic to southernmost South America. Taxonomy It was long placed in with the other plovers in the family Charadriidae; however, behavioural evidence suggested they were distinc ...

in its own family Pluvianellidae. The stone-curlews are not closely related to the

curlews The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

, genus '' Numenius'', that belong to the sandpiper family Scolopacidae.

Description

They are medium to large birds with strong black or yellow black bills, large yellow eyes—which give them a reptilian appearance—and cryptic plumage. The names thick-knee and stone-curlew are both in common use. The term stone-curlew owes its origin to the broad similarities with true curlews. Thick-knee refers to the prominent joints in the long yellow or greenish legs and apparently originated with a name coined in 1776 for ''B. oedicnemus'', the

Eurasian stone-curlew The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (''Burhinus oedicnemus'') is a northern species of the Burhinidae ( stone-curlew) bird family. Taxonomy The Eurasian stone-curlew was formally described by the Swedish nat ...

. Obviously the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

(

ankle The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...

) and the

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

are confused here.

Behaviour

They are largely nocturnal, particularly when singing their loud, wailing songs, which are reminiscent of true curlews. Their diet consists mainly of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and other invertebrates. Larger species also take lizards and even small mammals. Most species are sedentary, but the Eurasian stone-curlew is a summer migrant in the temperate European part of its range, wintering in Africa.

Species

The earliest definitive stone-curlew is '' Genucrassum bransatensis'' from the

Late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pro ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. ''

Wilaru ''Wilaru'' is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from Australia during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, around 26-22 million years ago. The type species is ''Wilaru tedfordi'', and the second species is ''Wilaru prideauxi''. Discovery ...

'', described from the

to the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

of Australia, was originally classified as a stone-curlew, but was subsequently argued to be a member of the extinct

anseriform Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which inc ...

family

Presbyornithidae Presbyornithidae is an extinct group of birds found in North America, South America, East Asia, Australia and possibly North Africa. They had evolved by the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Aquitanian age of ...

, instead. The living species are:

References

External links

Thick-knees videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone-Curlew Extant Cenozoic first appearances Taxa named by Gregory Mathews