Threskiornis
Threskiornis is a genus of ibises, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae. They occur in the warmer parts of the Old World in southern Asia, Australasia and Sub-Saharan Africa. They are colonial breeders, which build a stick nest in a tree or bush and lay two to four eggs. They occur in marshy wetlands and feed on various fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects. In English, they are called sacred ibises. In Australia, urban dwelling ibises are known colloquially as "bin chickens".
| Threskiornis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Australian white ibis, Darling Harbour, Sydney | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Threskiornithidae |
| Subfamily: | Threskiornithinae |
| Genus: | Threskiornis G.R. Gray, 1842 |
| Type species | |
| Tantalus aethiopicus Latham, 1790 | |
| Species | |
|
T. aethiopicus | |
Description
Adult Threskiornis ibises are typically 75 cm long and have white body plumage. The bald head, neck and legs are black. The bill is thick and curved. Sexes are similar, but juveniles have whiter necks duller plumage. The straw-necked ibis differs from the other species in having dark upperparts, and is some times placed in the separate genus Carphibis (Jameson, 1835) as Carphibis spinicollis. A flightless species, the Reunion ibis, became extinct in the 18th century.
Species
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | T. aethiopicus | African sacred ibis | Sub-Saharan Africa, southeastern Iraq, and formerly in Egypt |
 | T. bernieri | Malagasy sacred ibis | Madagascar |
.jpg.webp) | T. melanocephalus | Black-headed ibis | Northern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka east up to Japan |
 | T. moluccus | Australian white ibis | Eastern, northern and south-western Australia |
 | T. spinicollis | Straw-necked ibis | Australia (except parts of Western Australia, South Australia, and south-west Tasmania), Indonesia and New Guinea |
 | T. solitarius † | Reunion ibis | Extinct, lived on Réunion island |
References
- Lowe, Kim W. & Richards, Geraldine C. (1991). "Morphological variation in the Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus superspecies complex". Emu. 91 (1): 41–45. doi:10.1071/MU9910041.
