Chionididae edit
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Sheathbills
A Snowy Sheathbill (C. alba)
A Snowy Sheathbill (C. alba)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Chionididae
Bonaparte, 1832
Genus: Chionis
Forster, JR, 1788
Species

Chionis alba
Chionis minor

The sheathbills are a family of birds, Chionididae. Classified in the wader order Charadriiformes, the family contains one genus, Chionis, with only two species. They are confined to Antarctic regions, and are the only Antarctic birds without webbed feet.

Genetic studies of the order Charadriiformes show the sheathbills to be a sister group of the thicknees of the family Burhinidae. These two groups together are a sister group to Recurvostridae-Haematopodidae and Charadriidae.1 Recent research on the Magellanic Plover (Pluvianellus socialis) of southern South America has indicated it too may be classified within the sheathbill family.2 34

They have white plumage, with only the face and leg colours distinguishing the two species. They look plump and dove-like, but are believed to be similar to the ancestors of the modern gulls and terns.

They derive their English name from the horny sheath which partially covers the upper mandible of their stout bills.

The sheathbills are scavengers, but will take chicks and eggs from cormorants or penguins, as well as eating offal. They lay 2 or 3 blotchy white eggs in crevices or rock cavities5.

The two species are the Snowy Sheathbill (Chionis alba) and the Black-faced Sheathbill (C. minor).

Black-Faced Sheathbill

References

  1. ^ Christidis and Boles, p. 128
  2. ^ Christidis and Boles, p. 132
  3. ^ Paton, Tara A. & Baker, Allan J. (2006): Sequences from 14 mitochondrial genes provide a well-supported phylogeny of the Charadriiform birds congruent with the nuclear RAG-1 tree. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 39(3): 657–667. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.011 (HTML abstract)
  4. ^ Paton, T.A.; Baker, A.J.; Groth, J.G. & Barrowclough, G.F. (2003): RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 29: 268-278. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8 (HTML abstract)
  5. ^ Harrison, Colin J.O. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph. ed.. Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. pp. 109. ISBN 1-85391-186-0. 

External links

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