stone-curlew

The family Burhinidae was introduced in 1912 for the stone-curlews by Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews.{{ cite journal | last=Mathews | first=Gregory | author-link=Gregory Mathews | year=1912 | journal=Novitates Zoologicae | title=A reference-list to the birds of Australia | volume=18 | issue=3 | pages=171-455 [225] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3109569 }}{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=112–113, 137, 247 | url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/830 }} The family contains three genera: Hesperoburhinus, Burhinus and Esacus.{{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=January 2021 | title=Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/buttonquail/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=29 May 2021 }} The name Burhinus combines the Ancient Greek bous meaning "ox" and rhis, rhinos meaning "nose" (or "bill").{{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 | page=81 }}

Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the family Burhinidae is sister to a clade containing the sheathbills in the family Chionidae and the Magellanic plover in its own family Pluvianellidae. The stone-curlews are not closely related to the curlews, genus Numenius, that belong to the sandpiper family Scolopacidae.{{Cite journal | last1=Kuhl | first1=H. | last2=Frankl-Vilches | first2=C. | last3=Bakker | first3=A. | last4=Mayr | first4=G. | last5=Nikolaus | first5=G. | last6=Boerno | first6=S.T. | last7=Klages | first7=S. | last8=Timmermann | first8=B. | last9=Gahr | first9=M. | date=2020 | title=An unbiased molecular approach using 3′-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life | journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | issue=msaa191 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msaa191 | doi-access=free | pmc=7783168 }}

They are medium to large birds with strong black or yellow black bills, large yellow eyes—which give them a reptilian appearance—and cryptic plumage. The names thick-knee and stone-curlew are both in common use. The term stone-curlew owes its origin to the broad similarities with true curlews. Thick-knee refers to the prominent joints in the long yellow or greenish legs and apparently originated with a name coined in 1776 for B. oedicnemus, the Eurasian stone-curlew.

Obviously the heel (ankle) and the knee are confused here.{{cite book |last=Kochan |first=Jack B. |series=Birds |title=Feet & Legs |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Mechanicsburg |year=1994 |isbn=0-8117-2515-4 }}

They are largely nocturnal, particularly when singing their loud, wailing songs, which are reminiscent of true curlews.{{cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Harrison, Colin J.O.|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|pages= 105–106|isbn= 1-85391-186-0}} Their diet consists mainly of insects and other invertebrates. Larger species also take lizards and even small mammals. Most species are sedentary, but the Eurasian stone-curlew is a summer migrant in the temperate European part of its range, wintering in Africa.

The earliest definitive stone-curlew is Genucrassum bransatensis from the Late Oligocene of France.{{Cite journal|author1=Vanesa L. De Pietri |author2=R. Paul Scofield |year=2014 |title=The earliest European record of a Stone-curlew (Charadriiformes, Burhinidae) from the late Oligocene of France |journal=Journal of Ornithology | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258221377 |volume=155 |issue=2 |pages=421–426 |doi=10.1007/s10336-013-1022-8 |s2cid=17046070 }} Wilaru, described from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene of Australia, was originally classified as a stone-curlew, but was subsequently argued to be a member of the extinct anseriform family Presbyornithidae, instead.{{Cite journal|author=Vanesa L. De Pietri|author2=R. Paul Scofield|author3=Nikita Zelenkov|author4=Walter E. Boles|author5=Trevor H. Worthy|name-list-style=amp |year=2016 |title=The unexpected survival of an ancient lineage of anseriform birds into the Neogene of Australia: the youngest record of Presbyornithidae |journal=Royal Society Open Science |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=150635 |doi=10.1098/rsos.150635 |pmc=4785986 |pmid=26998335}}{{Cite journal |last1=Worthy |first1=Trevor H. |last2=De Pietri |first2=Vanesa L. |last3=Scofield |first3=R. Paul |last4=Hand |first4=Suzanne J. |date=2023-03-20 |title=A new Eocene species of presbyornithid (Aves, Anseriformes) from Murgon, Australia |journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=416–430 |doi=10.1080/03115518.2023.2184491 |s2cid=257679005 |issn=0311-5518|doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Alch...47..416W |url=https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/aa061ea9-5a99-4b83-b5af-4264637be961/download |hdl=1959.4/unsworks_83108 |hdl-access=free }} The living species are:

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• [https://archive.today/20121209214915/http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/familia.phtml?idFamilia=58 Thick-knees videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

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Category:Extant Cenozoic first appearances

Category:Taxa named by Gregory Mathews