Blue-eyed shag

Blue-eyed shags
SGI-2016-South Georgia (Cooper Bay)–Blue-eyed shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps).jpg
South Georgia shag
Phalacrocorax georgianus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genus: Leucocarbo
Bonaparte, 1856
Type species
Carbo bougainvillii (guanay cormorant)
Lesson, 1837
Species

See text

Synonyms

Phalacrocorax (in part)
Euleucocarbo Voisin, 1973
Nesocarbo Voisin, 1973
Notocarbo Siegel-Causey, 1988

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 eye (not a blue iris); other shared features are white underparts (at least in some individuals) and pink feet.[1]

They are found around the colder parts of the Southern Hemisphere, especially near southern South America, Antarctica, and New Zealand. Many are endemic to remote islands. Determining which types are species and which are subspecies of what larger species is problematic; various recent authorities have recognized from 8 to 14 species and have placed them in a variety of genera. The common names are even more confusing, "like myriad footprints criss-crossing in the snow and about as easy to disentangle." Only one common name is given for most species here.[1]

  1. ^ a b Nelson, J. Bryan (2006). Pelicans, Cormorants, and Their Relatives: The Pelecaniformes. Oxford University Press, U.S.A. pp. 476–511, Plate 8. ISBN 978-0-19-857727-0.