Sungrebe

Sungrebe
Temporal range: Middle Miocene to present[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Heliornithidae
Genus: Heliornis
Bonnaterre, 1791
Species:
H. fulica
Binomial name
Heliornis fulica
(Boddaert, 1783)
Range map[3]

The sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) is a small aquatic gruiform found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil.[3]

It is the only living member of the genus Heliornis. The family Heliornithidae, to which it belongs, contains just two other species: the African finfoot, Podica senegalensis, found in the Afrotropics from Sub-saharan West Africa and the Congo Basin through the Great Lakes' western shores to Southeast Africa, and the Asian or masked finfoot Heliopais personatus, found from eastern Indomalaya down through Sundaland to the Wallace Line.[4]

These waterfowl have broad lobes on their feet, convergent to that of grebes or coots, that they use to propel themselves in the water. They are reclusive birds, preferring well-covered slow-flowing streams and secluded waterways, sometimes swimming partly submerged, like an anhinga.[5]

Sungrebes are unique among birds in that males have "pouches", folds of skin under their wings in which they carry their young from hatching until the chicks are able to swim for themselves.[6] This has led to them being called "Marsupial Birds"[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Olson2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ BirdLife International (2020). "Heliornis fulica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22692192A163319257. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22692192A163319257.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b Luo, Miles. K. (2009, October 16). Heliornis fulica (T. S. Schulenberg, Ed.). Retrieved December 10, 2012, from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=142196
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference creagrus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica). (2011, May 8). Retrieved December 10, 2012, from Planet of Birds website: http://www.planetofbirds.com/gruiformes-helionithidae-sungrebe-heliornis-fulica
  6. ^ Alvarez del Toro, M. (1971). "On the biology of the American finfoot in southern Mexico". Living Bird. 10: 79–88.
  7. ^ Majka, Christopher (1992). "Queer Birds - Marsupial Avians, Compost Heaters and Obligate Parasites". New Brunswick Naturalist.