The Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy is a bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon E. Ahlquist . It is based on DNA–DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.
21-494: The Phaethontiformes / ˌ f eɪ . ɪ ˈ θ ɒ n t ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / are an order of birds. They contain one extant family, the tropicbirds (Phaethontidae), and one extinct family Prophaethontidae from the early Cenozoic. Several fossil genera have been described, with well-preserved fossils known as early as the Paleocene . The group's origins may lie even earlier if the enigmatic waterbird Novacaesareala from
42-414: A pelagic lifestyle where food is often gathered in large amounts, but may be hard to find. Sibley%E2%80%93Ahlquist taxonomy DNA–DNA hybridization is among a class of comparative techniques in molecular biology that produce distance data (versus character data) and that can be analyzed to produce phylogenetic reconstructions only using phenetic tree-building algorithms. In DNA–DNA hybridization,
63-431: A superorder by themselves, with all other non-ratite birds in a different superorder. Sibley and Ahlquist, though, put penguins in the same superfamily as divers (loons), tubenoses, and frigatebirds . According to their phylogenetic analysis, penguins are closer to those birds than herons are to storks . The Galloanserae (waterfowl and landfowl) has found widespread acceptance. The DNA evidence of Sibley–Ahlquist for
84-540: Is predominantly white, with elongated central tail feathers. The three species have different combinations of black markings on the face, back, and wings. Their bills are large, powerful and slightly decurved. Their heads are large and their necks are short and thick. They have totipalmate feet (that is, all four toes are connected by a web). The legs of a tropicbird are located far back on their body, making walking impossible, so that they can only move on land by pushing themselves forward with their feet. The tropicbirds' call
105-779: Is still retained by the few surviving members today. The tropicbirds were traditionally grouped in the order Pelecaniformes , which contained the pelicans , cormorants and shags , darters , gannets and boobies and frigatebirds ; in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy , the Pelecaniformes were united with other groups into a large "Ciconiiformes". More recently this grouping has been found to be massively non- monophyletic (missing closer relatives of its distantly related groups) and split again. Microscopic analysis of eggshell structure by Konstantin Mikhailov in 1995 found that
126-537: Is typically a loud, piercing, shrill, but grating whistle, or crackle. These are often given in a rapid series when they are in a display flight at the colony. In old literature they were referred to as boatswain (bo'sun'/bosun) birds due their loud whistling calls. Tropicbirds frequently catch their prey by hovering and then plunge-diving, typically only into the surface-layer of the waters. They eat mostly fish, especially flying fish , and occasionally squid. Tropicbirds tend to avoid multi-species feeding flocks, unlike
147-591: The Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy , the Pelecaniformes were united with other groups into a large "Ciconiiformes". More recently this grouping has been found to be massively paraphyletic (missing closer relatives of its distantly related groups) and split again. Microscopic analysis of eggshell structure by Konstantin Mikhailov in 1995 found that the eggshells of tropicbirds lacked the covering of thick microglobular material of other Pelecaniformes. Jarvis, et al .'s 2014 paper "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in
168-409: The frigatebirds , which have similar diets. Tropicbirds are usually solitary or in pairs away from breeding colonies. There they engage in spectacular courtship displays. For several minutes, groups of 2–20 birds simultaneously and repeatedly fly around one another in large, vertical circles, while swinging the tail streamers from side to side. If the female likes the presentation, she will mate with
189-410: The "trunk" of the family tree is the class Aves , which branches into subclasses, which branch into infraclasses, and then "parvclasses", superorders, orders, suborders, infraorders, "parvorders", superfamilies, families, subfamilies, tribes, subtribes and finally genera and species. However the classification study did not employ modern cladistic methods, as it relies strictly on DNA-DNA hybridization as
210-511: The eggshells of tropicbirds lacked the covering of thick microglobular material of other Pelecaniformes. Some early studies in the last decade suggested Phaethontiformes were distantly related to Procellariiformes , but since 2004 they have been placed in Metaves , or in a lineage with no affinities with Procellariiformes, by the results of most recent molecular studies. Jarvis, et al .'s 2014 paper "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in
231-513: The latest Cretaceous or earliest Paleocene of New Jersey is considered a tropicbird. Many phaethontiform fossil taxa are known from the Paleocene and Eocene , but the fossil record becomes much more scant after the Oligocene . This suggests that around this time, the group may have moved out of the nearshore habitats where they were easier to fossilize and evolved the pelagic lifestyle that
SECTION 10
#1732790069744252-457: The male in his prospective nest-site. Occasionally, disputes will occur between males trying to protect their mates and nesting areas. Tropicbirds generally nest in holes or crevices on the bare ground. The female lays one white egg, spotted brown, and incubates for 40–46 days. The incubation is performed by both parents, but mostly the female, while the male brings food to feed the female. The chick hatches with grey down. It will stay alone in
273-446: The nest while both parents search for food, and they will feed the chick twice every three days until fledging, about 12–13 weeks after hatching. The young are not able to fly initially; they will float on the ocean for several days to lose weight before flight. Tropicbird chicks have slower growth than nearshore birds, and they tend to accumulate fat deposits while young. That, along with one-egg clutches, appears to be an adaptation to
294-552: The order Phaethontiformes . For many years they were considered part of the Pelecaniformes , but genetics indicates they are most closely related to the Eurypygiformes . There are three species in one genus , Phaethon . The scientific names are derived from Ancient Greek phaethon , "sun". They have predominantly white plumage with elongated tail feathers and small feeble legs and feet. The genus Phaethon
315-505: The percent similarity of DNA between two species is estimated by the reduction in hydrogen bonding between nucleotides of imperfectly complemented heteroduplex DNA (i.e., double stranded DNAs that are experimentally produced from single strands of two different species), compared with perfectly matched homoduplex DNA (both strands of DNA from the same species). The classification appears to be an early example of cladistic classification because it codifies many intermediate levels of taxa:
336-452: The same order that includes nothing else, Sibley and Ahlquist put them in the same superorder that includes nothing else, consisting of one order for the hummingbirds and another for the swifts and treeswifts. In other words, they still regard the swifts as the hummingbirds' closest relatives. Other changes are much more drastic. The penguins were traditionally regarded as distant from all other living birds. For instance, Wetmore put them in
357-543: The sole measure of similarity. The Sibley–Ahlquist arrangement differs greatly from the more traditional approach used in the Clements taxonomy . Other birds Anseriformes Galliformes Craciformes Showing major changes from Clements, the Sibley–Ahlquist orders are as follows: Some of these changes are minor adjustments. For instance, instead of putting the swifts, treeswifts, and hummingbirds in
378-415: The split between the red-tailed and white-tailed tropicbird taking place about four million years ago. Phaethusavis and Heliadornis are prehistoric genera of tropicbirds described from fossils . [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Tropicbirds range in size from 76 cm to 102 cm in length and 94 cm to 112 cm in wingspan. Their plumage
399-598: The tree of life of modern birds" aligns the Phaethontiformes most closely with the sunbittern and the kagu of the Eurypygiformes , with these two clades forming the sister group of the "core water birds", the Aequornithes , and the Metaves hypothesis abandoned. Tropicbird Tropicbirds are a family , Phaethontidae , of tropical pelagic seabirds . They are the sole living representatives of
420-463: The tree of life of modern birds" aligns the tropicbirds most closely with the sunbittern and the kagu of the Eurypygiformes , with these two clades forming the sister group of the "core water birds", the Aequornithes , and the Metaves hypothesis abandoned. The red-billed tropicbird is basal within the genus. The split between the red-billed tropicbird and the other two tropicbirds is hypothesized to have taken place about six million years ago, with
441-540: Was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . The name is from Ancient Greek phaethōn meaning "sun". The type species was designated as the red-billed tropicbird ( Phaethon aethereus ) by George Robert Gray in 1840. Tropicbirds were traditionally grouped in the order Pelecaniformes , which contained the pelicans , cormorants and shags , darters , gannets and boobies and frigatebirds ; in
SECTION 20
#1732790069744#743256