Coot
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
Coot Temporal range:
Early Pliocene to present | |
---|---|
Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Rallidae |
Genus: | Fulica Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Fulica atra (Eurasian coot) Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Species | |
For extinct and prehistoric species, see article text |
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus Fulica was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is the Latin word for a Eurasian coot.[2] The name was used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1555.[3] The type species is the Eurasian coot.[4]
A group of coots are referred to as a covert[5] or cover.[6]
Species
The genus contains 10 extant species and one which is now extinct.[7]
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Fulica alai Peale, 1848 | Hawaiian coot or ʻAlae keʻokeʻo | Hawaii | |
Fulica americana Gmelin, 1789 | American coot | southern Quebec to the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as northern South America | |
Fulica ardesiaca Tschudi, 1843 | Andean coot | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru | |
Fulica armillata Vieillot, 1817 | red-gartered coot | Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay | |
Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 | Eurasian coot or common coot | Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa | |
Fulica cornuta Bonaparte, 1853 | horned coot | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile | |
Fulica cristata Gmelin, 1789 | red-knobbed coot | Africa, Iberian Peninsula | |
Fulica gigantea Eydoux & Souleyet, 1841 | giant coot | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru | |
Fulica leucoptera Vieillot, 1817 | white-winged coot | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Uruguay | |
Fulica rufifrons Philppi & Landbeck, 1861 | red-fronted coot | Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, southern Peru, Uruguay |
Extinct species
Recently extinct species
- †Fulica newtonii Milne-Edwards, 1867 – Mascarene coot (extinct, c. 1700)
Late Quaternary species
- †Fulica chathamensis early Holocene of the Chatham Islands)
- †Fulica montanei Alarcón-Muñoz, Labarca & Soto-Acuña, 2020 (late Pleistocene to early Holocene of Chile)[8]
- †Fulica prisca Hamilton, 1893 – New Zealand coot (early Holocene of New Zealand)
- †Fulica shufeldti – (late Pleistocene of Florida) possibly a paleosubspecies of Fulica americana; formerly F. minor
Fossil species
- †Fulica infelix Brodkorb, 1961 – (early Pliocene of Juntura, Malheur County, Oregon, USA)
Description
Coots have prominent
Distribution and habitat
The greatest species variety occurs in South America, and the genus likely[
Behaviour and ecology
Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs. They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer.
Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food.
References
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 152.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gesner, Conrad (1555). Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur (in Latin). Zurich: Froschauer. p. 375.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 211.
- ^ "What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ "Baltimore Bird Club. Group Name for Birds: A Partial List". Retrieved 2007-06-03.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- S2CID 225031984.
- ^ Olson, Storrs L. (1974). "The Pleistocene Rails of North America." Museum of Natural History.
- ^ "American Coot".
- ^ "This Coot has a Secret! - NatureOutside". 20 June 2015.
- ^ The Life of Birds, David Attenborough. The Problems of Parenthood. 10:20.
- ^ Clutton-Brock, TH., The Evolution of Parental Care, Princeton University Press, 1991 p. 203.
External links
- Coot videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). . . Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.