Botaurus

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Botaurus

| image = Botaurus lentiginosus 28079.JPG

| image_caption = American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)

| taxon = Botaurus

| authority = Stephens, 1819

| type_species = Ardea stellaris

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| synonyms = Ixobrychus {{small|Billberg, 1828}}

}}

Botaurus is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading birds in the heron family Ardeidae. The genus includes species that were previously placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

Taxonomy

The genus Botaurus was introduced in 1819 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens.{{ cite book | last=Stephens | first=James Francis | author-link=James Francis Stephens | year=1819 | title=General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History | volume=11, Part 2 | location=London | publisher=Kearsley et al. | pages=592, 595 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36848863 }} Stephens did not specify the type species but this was designated as Ardea stellaris Linnaeus (Eurasian bittern) by George Gray in 1840.{{ cite book | last=Gray | first=George Robert | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1840 | title=A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus | location=London | publisher=R. and J.E. Taylor | page=66 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13668983 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=242 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108882 }} The name Botaurus is Medieval Latin for a bittern. The word combines Latin bos meaning "oxen" (compare butire "to boom") and taurus meaning "bull".{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=Botaurus | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Botaurus | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=20 August 2024}} In describing the Eurasian bittern Stephens wrote: "At this period the male makes a singular noise, which is compared with the deep bellowing of a bull, and is continued for about two months: ...".{{cite web| title= Bittern (1)| work= Oxford English Dictionary| url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/19574?rskey=Qgen84&result=1#eid | publisher=Oxford University Press | access-date =16 May 2016}}{{subscription required}}

The genus formerly contained fewer species. Molecular genetic studies found that the genus Ixobrychus was paraphyletic with respect to Botaurus.{{Cite journal | last1=Päckert | first1=M. | last2=Hering | first2=J. | last3=Fuchs | first3=E. | last4=Barthel | first4=P. | last5=Heim | first5=W. | date=2014 | title=Genetic barcoding confirms first breeding record of the Yellow Bittern, Ixobrychus sinensis, (Aves: Pelecaniformes, Ardeidae) in the Western Palearctic | journal=Vertebrate Zoology | volume=64 | issue=2 | pages=251–260 | doi=10.3897/vz.64.e31492 | doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal | last1=Hruska | first1=J.P. | last2=Holmes | first2=J. | last3=Oliveros | first3=C. | last4=Shakya | first4=S. | last5=Lavretsky | first5=P. | last6=McCracken | first6=K.G. | last7=Sheldon | first7=F.H. | last8=Moyle | first8=R.G. | date=2023 | title=Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae) | journal=Ornithology | volume=140 | issue=2 | page=ukad005 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad005}} To resolve the non-monophyly the genus Ixobrychus was merged into Botaurus which has priority.{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Hernández-Baños | first6=B.E. | last7=Jiménez | first7=R.A. | last8=Johnson | first8=O. | last9=Kratter | first9=A.W. | last10=Mason | first10=N.A. | last11=Rasmussen | first11=P.C. | last12=Remsen | first12=J.V.J. | date=2024 | title=Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=141 | issue=3 | pages=ukae019 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 | doi-access=free }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/raptors/| publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=20 August 2024 }}

The bitterns are large chunky, heavily streaked brown birds which breed in large reed beds. Almost uniquely for predatory birds, the female rears the young alone.{{cite journal | last1= Sibly | first1= Richard M. | last2 = Witt | first2=C.C. | last3=Wright | first3=N.A. | last4=Venditti | first4=C. | last5=Jetz | first5= W. | last6=Brown | first6=J.H. | year= 2012 | title= Energetics, lifestyle, and reproduction in birds | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume=109 | issue= 27 | pages=10937–10941 | doi =10.1073/pnas.1206512109 | doi-access= free | pmid= 22615391 | pmc=3390878 }} They are secretive and well-camouflaged, and despite their size they can be difficult to observe except for occasional flight views. They eat fish, frogs, and similar aquatic life.{{ cite book | last1=Martínez-Vilalta | first1=A. | last2=Motis | first2=A. | year=1992 | chapter=Family Ardeida (Herons) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Cornel | volume=1: Ostrich to Ducks | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=84-87334-10-5 | pages=376–429 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/376/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}

Species

The genus contains 14 species, this includes the New Zealand bittern which is now extinct.

class="wikitable"
ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
120pxBotaurus stellarisEurasian bittern150px
Europe and Asia from the British Isles, Sweden and Finland eastwards to Sakhalin Island in eastern Siberia and Hokkaido Island in Japan
120pxBotaurus poiciloptilusAustralasian bittern150px
Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea
120pxBotaurus lentiginosusAmerican bittern150px
the U.S. Gulf Coast states, all of Florida into the Everglades, the Caribbean islands and parts of Central America
120pxBotaurus pinnatusPinnated bittern or South American bittern150px
Mexico to northern Argentina, though there are few records for Guatemala and Honduras
120pxBotaurus involucris (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Stripe-backed bittern150px
Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the island of Trinidad, and in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil
120pxBotaurus exilis (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Least bittern150px
southern Canada to northern Argentina
120pxBotaurus flavicollis (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Black bittern150px
tropical Asia from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to China, Indonesia, and Australia
120pxBotaurus cinnamomeus (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Cinnamon bittern150px
tropical and subtropical Asia from India east to China and Indonesia
120pxBotaurus eurhythmus (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Von Schrenck's bittern150px
Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, China and Siberia
120pxBotaurus sturmii (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Dwarf bittern150px
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain (the Canary Islands), Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
120pxBotaurus minutus (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Little bittern150px
Africa, central and southern Europe, western and southern Asia, and Madagascar
120pxBotaurus sinensis (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Yellow bittern150px
northern Indian Subcontinent, east to the Russian Far East, Japan and Indonesia.
120pxBotaurus dubius (formerly placed in Ixobrychus)Black-backed bittern150px
Australia and southern New Guinea

References

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Category:Bird genera

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