Zigzag heron

The zigzag heron was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the herons, cranes, storks and bitterns in the genus Ardea and coined the binomial name Ardea undulata.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=637 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656130 }} Gmelin based his description on the zigzig bittern from Cayenne that had been described by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work A General Synopsis of Birds.{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=61, No. 22 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40078818 }} Latham had in turn based his account on "Le petit butor de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in Comte de Buffon's Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1780 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=7 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | page=430 | chapter=Le petit butor de Cayenne | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069720s/f498.item }}{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Petit bucor, de Cayenne | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=8 | location=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 763 | chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218421 }} The zigzag heron is the only species placed in the genus Zebrilus that was introduced in 1855 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.{{ cite journal | last=Bonaparte | first=Charles Lucien | author-link=Charles Lucien Bonaparte | year=1855 | title=Tableaux synoptiques de l'ordre des hérons | language=French | journal=Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences | volume=40 | pages=718–733 [723] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4617276 }}{{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 Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pelicans/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=25 November 2022 }} The genus name Zebrilus is a diminutive of the French zèbre meaning "zebra". The specific epithet undulatus is Latin meaning "furnished with wave-like markings".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n413/mode/1up 413], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n396/mode/1up 396]}} The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The adult plumage is gray with fine zigzag barring, with a pale underside, standing about {{convert|32|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=off}} in height. Juveniles have a dark back with a brown head and underside. Due to its appearance it was often assigned to the tiger herons (Tigrisoma and allies). But in fact, it is a true bittern, having like these only 10 rectrices (other Ardeidae have 12) and being unequivocally placed in the bittern lineage by DNA sequence data too. Short legs and necks and cryptic plumage may thus be plesiomorphic among Ardeidae in general.

The zigzag heron is a species of the entire Amazon Basin, east of the Andes cordillera, and the five bordering countries on the basin's western periphery, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The range does not extend beyond the Orinoco River basin of Venezuela in the northwest, and in the east-northeast encompasses the Guianas; in the southeast Amazon Basin the range does not extend east of the Tapajós River drainage.

They are reclusive birds, staying hidden in thick cover even while foraging.{{Cite web|url=http://www.peruaves.org/ardeidae/zigzag-heron-zebrilus-undulatus/|title=Zigzag Heron (Zebrilus undulatus) - Peru Aves {{!}} Peru Birds|language=en-US|access-date=2016-06-30}}

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• [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=327 Zigzag heron videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
• [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=zigzag+heron&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Zigzag heron photo gallery] VIREO [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Zebrilus+undulatus Photo-high res]
• [http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/photos/zebund7018.jpg Photo-high res]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927173832/http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/brochure_2003/s_america/venezuela/images/zigzagheron1.jpg Photo][https://web.archive.org/web/20070927173838/http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/brochure_2003/s_america/venezuela/venezuela.html Article] - sunbirdtours

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zigzag heron

zigzag heron

Category:Birds of the Amazon rainforest

Category:Birds of the Guiana Shield

zigzag heron

zigzag heron

Category:Birds of Brazil

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

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