Phalacrocorax

Phalacrocorax is a genus of fish-eating birds in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae.

Phalacrocorax
Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Suliformes
Family:	Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:	Phalacrocorax Brisson, 1760
Type species
Pelecanus carbo Linnaeus, 1758
Species
See text

Taxonomy

The genus Phalacrocorax was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) as the type species.[1][2] Phalacrocorax is the Latin word for a "cormorant".[3]

The genus contains 22 species including one species that became extinct in the 19th century.[4]

• Red-legged cormorant or red-footed shag, Phalacrocorax gaimardi
• Flightless cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi
• Bank cormorant or Wahlberg's cormorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus
• Spotted shag Phalacrocorax punctatus
• Pitt shag or Featherstone's shag Phalacrocorax featherstoni
• †Pallas's cormorant or spectacled cormorant, Phalacrocorax perspicillatus
• Brandt's cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
• Pelagic cormorant or Baird's cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus
• Red-faced cormorant, Phalacrocorax urile
• Neotropic cormorant or olivaceous cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (or Phalacrocorax olivaceus)
• Double-crested cormorant or white-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus
• European shag or common shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis
• Black-faced cormorant, Phalacrocorax fuscescens
• Indian cormorant, Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
• Little black cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
• Australian pied cormorant or yellow-faced cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius
• Great cormorant or black shag, Phalacrocorax carbo
• White-breasted cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus
• Japanese cormorant or Temminck's cormorant, Phalacrocorax capillatus
• Cape cormorant, Phalacrocorax capensis
• Socotra cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis

Species possibly closer to Leucocarbo:

• Rock shag, Phalacrocorax magellanicus
• Double-crested cormorant or white-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus
• Neotropic cormorant or olivaceous cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (or Phalacrocorax olivaceus)
• Flightless cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi
• European shag or common shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis

A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Phalacrocorax was non-monophyletic and that a group of five species currently placed in this genus were more closely related to members of Leucocarbo. This group contained the rock shag, the double-crested cormorant, the neotropic cormorant, the flightless cormorant and the European shag.[5]

References

1. Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 60, Vol. 6, p. 511.
2. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 163.
3. Jobling, J.A. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans, boobies, cormorants". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
5. Kennedy, M.; Spencer, H.G. (2014). "Classification of the cormorants of the world". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 79: 249–257. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.06.020. PMID 24994028.