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Podiceps

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Podiceps

| fossil_range = Aquitanian to present

| image = Podiceps Diversity.jpg

| image_caption = Montage of eight species, featuring from left to right in three rows: P. cristatus, P. gallardoi, P. grisegena; P. auritus, P. nigricollis; P. taczanowskii, P. occipitalis, P. major.

| taxon = Podiceps

| authority = Latham, 1787

| type_species = Colymbus cristatus{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=21 |title= Podicipedidae |author= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-08-05}}

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text.

| synonyms =

  • Pliodytes Brodkorb 1953
  • Dyas
  • Lophaithyia Kaup 1829
  • Colymbus Linnaeus 1758 non Linnaeus 1766 non Paetel 1875 non Hadding 1913
  • Podiceps (Proctopus) Kaup.
  • Centropelma Sclater & Salvin 1869
  • Dytes Kaup.
  • Podicephorus {{small|Bochenski 1994}}

}}

Podiceps is a genus of birds in the grebe family. The genus name comes from Latin {{Lang|la|podicis}}, "rear-end" and {{Lang|la|ped}}, "foot", and is a reference to the placement of a grebe's legs towards the rear of its body.

It has representatives breeding in all continents except Antarctica. Some species are partially or entirely migratory, moving in winter to the coast or warmer climates. Most species are widespread and overall common, but three South American species each are restricted to a single country; two of them are seriously threatened and a third is already extinct.

They breed in vegetated areas of freshwater lakes, nesting on the water's edge, since their legs are set too far back for easy walking. Usually two eggs are laid, and the striped young may be carried on the adult's back. All the genus are excellent swimmers and divers, and pursue their fish prey underwater. Adults have striking breeding plumage, with no difference between the sexes. In winter, the plumage is subdued whites and greys.

Systematics

The genus Podiceps was erected by the English naturalist John Latham in 1787.{{ cite book | last=Latham| first= John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1787 | title=Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds | publisher=Printed for Leigh & Sotheby | place=London | page=294 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33046893 }} The type species was subsequently designated as the great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus).{{ 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=148 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108788 }} The genus name combines variants on the Latin {{Lang|la|podex}}, roughly meaning "rear-end", and {{Lang|la|pes}}, meaning "foot".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n311 311] }}

The black-necked, Colombian, silvery, and Junin grebes are very closely related and were formerly sometimes separated as the genus Dyas. The great grebe has also sometimes been separated as the sole member of the genus Podicephorus;Ogilvie, Malcolm Alexander & Rose, Chris (2003). Grebes of the World. B. Coleman, Uxbridge. {{ISBN|1-872842-03-8}}Harrison, Peter (1988). Seabirds (2nd ed.). Christopher Helm, London. {{ISBN|0-7470-1410-8}} there is also genetic evidence that it is more closely related to the Aechmophorus grebes than it is to the rest of the genus Podiceps.{{Cite journal |last1=Ksepka |first1=D. T. |last2=Balanoff |first2=A. M. |last3=Bell |first3=M. A. |last4=Houseman |first4=M. D. |year=2013 |title=Fossil grebes from the Truckee Formation (Miocene) of Nevada and a new phylogenetic analysis of Podicipediformes (Aves). |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=1149–1169 |doi=10.1111/pala.12040 |bibcode=2013Palgy..56.1149K |s2cid=83938510 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12040 |access-date=2023-01-02 |archive-date=2023-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102165157/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12040 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

The genus contains nine species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Grebes, flamingos, buttonquail, plovers, painted-snipes, jacanas, plains-wanderer, seedsnipes | work=World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/grebes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=16 July 2019 }}

{{Species table |genus= Podiceps |authority-name=Latham|authority-year= 1787 |species-count=nine|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Great grebe |binomial=Podiceps major

|image=File:Great Grebe RWD.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Boddaert |authority-year=1783 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Western and southern South America

|range-image=File:Podiceps major map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

|P. m. major (Boddaert, 1783)

|P. m. navasi (Manghi, 1984)

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Red-necked grebe |binomial=Podiceps grisegena

|image=File:Podiceps grisegena (33624738966).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Boddaert|authority-year= 1783|authority-not-original=yes

|range= Eurasia and North America

|range-image=File:PodicepsGrisegenaIUCNver2019-2.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

|P. g. grisegena (Boddaert, 1783)

|P. g. holbollii Reinhardt, 1853

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Great crested grebe |binomial=Podiceps cristatus

|image=File:Great Crested Grebe (52909695022).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Australasian, Eurasia and Africa

|range-image=File:PodicepsCristatusIUCN2019-2.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on

| P. c. cristatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

| P. c. infuscatus Salvadori, 1884

| P. c. australis Gould, 1844

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Horned grebe or Slavonian grebe |binomial=Podiceps auritus

|image=File:Podiceps auritus (13909539717).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=(breeding plumage)

|image2 =File:Slavonian Grebe, Dighal, Haryana, India (29281554018).jpg|image2-caption=(non-breeding plumage)

|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Eurasia and North America

|range-image=File:Slavonian Grebe-location-map-en.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= VU

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| P. a. auritus (Linnaeus, 1758)

| P. a. cornutus (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Black-necked grebe or eared grebe |binomial=Podiceps nigricollis

|image=File:Eared Grebe, breeding plumage (33774036404).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Brehm |authority-year=1831 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Eurasia, Africa and North America

|range-image=File:PodicepsNigricollisIUCNver2019-2.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on

| P. n. nigricollis – (C. L. Brehm, 1831)

| P. n. gurneyi – (Roberts, 1919)

| P. n. californicus – (Heermann, 1854)

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=†Colombian grebe |binomial=Podiceps andinus

|image=|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Meyer de Schauensee |authority-year=1959 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Colombia - extinct (1977)

|range-image=File:Podiceps andinus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= EX

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Silvery grebe |binomial=Podiceps occipitalis

|image=File:Podiceps occipitalis 103079512.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Garnot |authority-year=1826 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Western and southern South America, and the Falkland Islands.

|range-image=File:Podiceps occipitalis map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| P. o. juninensis (von Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1894)

| P. o. occipitalis (Garnot, 1826)

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Junin grebe |binomial=Podiceps taczanowskii

|image=File:Junin-Grebe-Podiceps-tacznowskii Photo - Gunnar Engblom, Kolibri Expeditions.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Berlepsch & Stolzmann|authority-year= 1894 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= west-central Peru

|range-image=File:Podiceps taczanowskii map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= EN

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Hooded grebe |binomial=Podiceps gallardoi

|image=File:Macá tobiano sobre vinagrilla en lago de la patagonia Argentina.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Rumboll|authority-year= 1974 |authority-not-original=

|range= south-west Argentina

|range-image=File:Podiceps gallardoi map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= CR

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

The chicks of all Podiceps grebes (including P. major, but not those of the related genus Aechmophorus) have boldly striped heads, with alternating black and white stripes; they are often colloquially called "humbugs" from their resemblance to humbug sweets.{{cite web | title=Great Crested Grebe with Chicks AKA Humbugs! | website=John Mallaney | date=2021-05-03 | url=https://johnmallaney.com/2021/05/03/great-crested-grebe-with-chicks-aka-humbugs/ | access-date=2024-11-02}}{{cite web | title=x.com | website=X (formerly Twitter) | url=https://x.com/geoffbrookes888/status/1658388418303258625 | access-date=2024-11-02}} They lose these markings as they mature during their first winter.

=Fossils=

One of the very oldest fossil grebes known to date actually belongs to this genus. Regarding grebes, the fossil record leaves much to be desired, being quite complete for the last 5 million years before present but very incomplete before the Pliocene.

Fossil species of Podiceps are:

Among the material assigned to P. parvus were bones of another species, which may or may not belong in this genus.{{cite journal|last=Murray |first=Bertram G. Jr |date=May–June 1967|title=Grebes from the Late Pliocene of North America |journal=Condor |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=277–288|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v069n03/p0277-p0288.pdf |doi=10.2307/1366317|jstor=1366317 }}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Grebes}}

{{Birds}}

{{Mirandornithes|M.|state=collapsed}}

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{{portalbar|Birds|Animals|Biology}}

Category:Bird genera

Category:Podicipedidae