Introduction

The Ardeidae are medium to large-sized birds, assigned to two readily recognised divisions: the herons (including egrets — their names having been selectively chosen because of colouration and plumage characters) and the bitterns. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all continents apart from Antarctica. Amongst the larger species, herons are typically diurnal with some tendency towards a crepuscular lifestyle; their typical calls are a series of guttural croaks whereas the furtive bitterns are principally crepuscular, their calls including deep booming notes. Worldwide, there are 64 species, 12 of which, in nine genera, occur within Australian territory. All are long-necked and long-legged wading birds; the neck is articulated. The legs are long, possessing thin anisodactyl toes. Ardeid bodies are slim with long, broad wings and short tails. They all differ substantially from other groups with similar shapes (Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Gruidae) by having retractable necks and slow flight; in flight the legs trail behind the body. They also have powder down on the breast, thighs and rump (bitterns lack powder down on the thighs). Possession of a comb-like structure on the third toe assists with plumage grooming. Bitterns also have an ability to erect their elongate neck feathers to be used either in display or threat.

Articulation (kinking) of the sixth neck vertebra enables it to be used as a fulcrum for the dagger-like bill when hunting prey. It also allows them to reposition their gullet either before or behind the vertebrae, thereby assisting in swallowing larger prey. There is a tendency for the neck to be longer in the diurnal herons and shorter in the bitterns. Their soft plumage, usually grey, black, brown or white, exhibits some variants, for example in breeding plumage the normally white Cattle Egret assumes a golden head and neck; and there is some dimorphism between white and grey in the Reef Egret. When breeding, many of the species with white plumage develop filamentous plumes which they use for displays. Typically the bill, as evidenced in Australian species, is long and fine; in some species the bill broadens and becomes shorter (night-herons). Bills are generally coloured yellow or brownish, becoming brighter and more colourful when the birds are breeding.

Ardeids inhabit freshwater wetlands; herons also inhabit open grasslands, including some park land in urban areas, and rocky and sandy coastal foreshores. Bitterns are inclined to frequent reedbeds in wetlands rather than grasslands and pastures. Both subgroups hunt by stalking their prey in shallow marine or fresh water. Often they will remain almost motionless until their prey appears. Their prey consists of fish and other marine life but will include young birds and small mammals. Once captured the prey are battered on an available rock or log before being consumed. Undigested bone or other material are regurgitated as a pellet.

Breeding is mostly conducted within treetop colonies while a small number prefer a solitary nesting arrangement; bitterns mostly prefer reedbeds. Within colonies, breeding is synchronised. Heron nests are a platform or shallow dish of twigs and leaves built into the outer twigs of trees or in tree forks; in contrast bitterns construct their shallow dish of rushes either in reedbeds or using twigs in tree forks. Two to four pale blue-green or white oval to long-oval eggs form a clutch; the incubation period is approximately 26 days. Among herons both adults share the responsibility of nest duties and the young are fed through regurgitation.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:8038
ARDEIDAE: Ardea cinerea jouyi Clark, 1907 [Eastern Grey Heron]

CAVS:0908
ARDEIDAE: Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 [Grey Heron; vagrant to Christmas Island & WA — Swan Coastal Plain (SWA) Busselton, WA on the 20th May 2002] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20, 111, 112]; Tony Palliser Submission No 368: Grey Heron Ardea cinerea. Busselton, WA. 20th May 2002. Birds Australia Rarities Committee. http://www.tonypalliser.com/barc/summaries/SUMM368.htm (accessed 4 April 2012)

CAVS:8039
ARDEIDAE: Ardea purpurea (Linnaeus, 1766) [Purple Heron]

CAVS:9945
ARDEIDAE: Ardeola bacchus (Bonaparte, 1855) [Chinese Pond Heron; vagrant to Cocos (Keeling) Island] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21, 111, 112]

CAVS:9946
ARDEIDAE: Ardeola speciosa Horsfield, 1821 [Javan Pond Heron] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21, 111, 112]

CAVS:8041
ARDEIDAE: Ardeola speciosa speciosa Horsfield, 1821 [Eastern Javan Pond Heron]

CAVS:8040
ARDEIDAE: Butorides striata amurensis (von Schrenk, 1860) [East Asian Striated Heron]

CAVS:8042
ARDEIDAE: Egretta garzetta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) [Chinese Little Egret]

CAVS:8075
ARDEIDAE: Egretta gularis (Bosc, 1792) [Western Reef Egret; vagrant to Cocos (Keeling) Island] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [112]

CAVS:8076
ARDEIDAE: Egretta gularis schistacea (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828) [Arabian Western Reef Egret]

CAVS:8052
ARDEIDAE: Gorsachius goisagi Temminck, 1836 [Japanese Night Heron]

CAVS:8051
ARDEIDAE: Gorsachius melanolophus melanolophus (Raffles, 1822) [Malayan Night-Heron]

CAVS:0797
ARDEIDAE: Gorsachius melanolophus (Raffles, 1822) [Malayan Night-Heron; vagrant to Christmas Island] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp.; Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2004. Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) Edn 7, pp. 382. [336]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21, 112]

CAVS:0842
ARDEIDAE: Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (Gmelin, 1789) [Cinnamon Bittern; vagrant to Christmas Island] — Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2004. Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) Edn 7, pp. 382. [336]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20, 108, 112]

CAVS:0754
ARDEIDAE: Ixobrychus eurhythmus (Swinhoe, 1873) [Schrenk's Bittern; vagrant to Christmas Island] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20, 108, 112]

CAVS:8037
ARDEIDAE: Ixobrychus flavicollis flavicollis (Latham, 1790) [Asian Black Bittern]

CAVS:0907
ARDEIDAE: Ixobrychus sinensis (Gmelin, 1789) [Yellow Bittern; vagrant to WA — Coolgardie (COO) & Christmas Island] — Marchant, S. & Higgins, P. (coordinators) 1990. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Melbourne : Oxford University Press Vol. 1(B) pp. 737-1400. [1047]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp.; Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2004. Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) Edn 7, pp. 382. [288]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [108, 112]

CAVS:0796
ARDEIDAE: Nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus, 1758) [Black-crowned Night-Heron; vagrant to Cocos (Keeling) Islands & Ashmore Reef] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp.; Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2004. Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) Edn 7, pp. 382. [336]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21, 112]

CAVS:8706
ARDEIDAE: Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus, 1758) [Eastern Black-crowned Night-Heron]

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

Grant, C.H.B. & Mackworth-Praed, C.W. 1933. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 54: 73-75 [75]

History of changes

• Ardeidae Leach, W.E. 1820. Eleventh Room. pp. 65-70 in Leach, W.E. Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum. London : British Museum. [69] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Ardea Linnaeus, 1758 [Ardea Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 141 (gender: feminine) (type species, by designation by Gray, 1840 (List Gen. Birds: 66): Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 143) (Aves). Op. 67 Ardeola, Dromas, Paykull, 1805, K. Vetensk.- Dromas Paykull, 1805) (Aves). Direction 43].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [131].
• Cancromidae Bonaparte, C.L. 1853. Classification ornithologique par series. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 37(18): 641-647 [643].

  Type genus:

   Cancroma Linnaeus, 1766 [a junior synonym of Cochlearius Brisson 1760].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1963. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum. Biological Sciences 7: 179-293 [286].
• Nycticoracinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Conspectus systematis ornithologiae. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie 4 1(2): 105-152 [142] [Nycticoracini Bonaparte, 1854 (Nycticorax T. Forster, 1817) conserved conditionally in preference to Cochleariini Chenu and des Murs, 1854 (1838) (Cochlearius Brisson, 1760) [Art. 79(b)(iii)].

  Type genus:

   Nycticorax Forster, T., 1817.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [131].
• Cochleariidae Ridgway, R. 1887. A manual of North American birds. Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co. pp.xi+631. [122].

  Type genus:

   Cochlearius Brisson, 1780.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1963. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum. Biological Sciences 7: 179-293 [286].

History of changes

• Ardea Linnaeus, C. von 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis. locis. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 823 pp. [141].

  Type species:

   Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, C., 1758 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [66].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [193]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [52]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [195]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [156].
• Ardaea Dumont, C.H.F. 1804. Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. Paris : F.G. Levrault Vol. 2 1, pp. [467] [misspelling of Ardea Linnaeus, 1758].

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [156].
• Casmerodius Gloger, C.W.L. 1842. Gemeinnütziges Hand-und Hilfsbuch der Naturgeschichte. Für gebildete Leser aller Stände, besonders für die reifere Jugend und ihre Lehrer. Breslau : A. Schulz & Co. Vol. 1 xxxxiv 495 pp. [publication dated 1842] [412].

  Type species:

   Ardea egretta Gmelin, 1788 (= Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1766) by subsequent designation.

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [156].
• Myola Mathews, G.M. 1913. New genera. Austral Avian Records 1: 195-196 [Date published 20 Mar 1913] [195].

  Type species:

   Ardea pacifica Latham, 1801 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [197]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [52]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [157].
• Tonophoyx Mathews, G.M. 1913. New genera. Austral Avian Records 1: 195-196 [Date published 20 Mar 1913] [195].

  Type species:

   Notophoyx flavirostris Sharpe, R.B., 1898 (= Ardea (Herodias) picata Gould, 1845) by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [197]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [52].

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

ARDEIDAE: Ardea rectirostris Gould, 1843 [type from "New south Wales" in error for India = Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758] — Gould, J. 1843. Mr. Gould exhibited a new species of Australian Heron. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London [1843]: 22; Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [230]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Ardea modesta Gray, J.E. 1831. Descriptions of three new species of Heron, Ardea, discovered by General Hardwicke, in India. Zoological Miscellany 19-20 [19].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH missing skin, India.

  Type locality references:

  Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. 1898. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [95]; Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [194].
• Herodias syrmatophorus Gould, J. 1846. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 6. [pl. 56].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 6713 (VN 1703) skin, New South Wales.
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 6714 (VN 1704) skin, New South Wales; ANSP 6714 (VN 1705) skin, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [19].
• Egretta alba neglecta Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [230].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529775 skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [242].

Generic Combinations

• Casmerodius alba modesta (Gray, 1831) [Ardea alba sometimes placed in monotypic genus Casmerodius]. —
  Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp.

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Casmerodius modesta Gray, 1831 [a misidentification - see Introduction]. —
  Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [110, 112]

Introduction

This subspecies was split from Ardea alba and treated at the species level as Casmerodius modesta by Christidis & Boles (2008) (and others) based on the work of Sheldon (1987) and McCracken & Sheldon (2002). However Pratt (2011) believed this to be a misinterpretation of the genetic and morphological data available, noting that Sheldon (1987) only presented evidence suggesting that A. a. egretta and A. a. modesta could be considered separate species, and that splitting modesta from A. alba was an unjustified extrapolation of the results. Sheldon (1987) did not include A. a. alba in his analysis and Pratt (2011) stated that modern genetic studies of all subspecies of A. alba were needed, along with behavioural and morphological data, to fix species limits in the complex. Here we follow Gill et al. 2021 and retain modesta as a subspecies of Ardea alba until such studies are conducted.

CAVS: 8712

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Throughout Australia, regularly observed in the IBRA regions indicated, but also sighted irregularly in other bioregions.

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. (treated at species level)

Gill, F., Donsker, D. & P. Rasmussen 2021. IOC World Bird List (v 11.1). International Ornithological Committee. 11.1. www.worldbirdnames.org

McCracken, K. G. & F. H. Sheldon 1998. Molecular and osteological heron phylogenies: sources of incongruenc. Auk 115: 127-141

Pratt, H.D. 2011. Observations on species limits in the Great Egret (Ardea alba) complex. Journal of Heron Biology and Conservation 1(5): 1-5

Sheldon, F.H. 1987. The phylogeny of herons estimated from DNA-DNA hybridization data. Auk 104: 33-43

Common Name References

Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P. & Franklin, K. 2019. The Australian Bird Guide. Clayton South, VIC : CSIRO Publishing 2nd, pp. 576. [186] (Great Egret)

History of changes

• Ardea intermedia Wagler, J.G. 1829. Beitrage und Bemerkungen zu dem ersten Bande seine Systema Avium. Isis 6: 645-664 [col. 659].
• Mesophoyx intermedia territori Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [126].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) AMNH AMNH 529965 - 529970 n = 6, skins, Alligator River, Northern Territory.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [244].

Generic Combinations

• Mesophoyx intermedia (Wagler, 1829). —
  Peters, J.L. 1931. Check-list of the Birds of the World. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press Vol. 1 xviii +345 pp. [112]
• Egretta intermedia (Wagler, 1829). —
  Dickinson, E.C. (ed.) 2003. The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. London : Christopher Helm 1039 pp. [87]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Common Name References

Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P. & Franklin, K. 2019. The Australian Bird Guide. Clayton South, VIC : CSIRO Publishing 2nd, pp. 576. [186] (Intermediate Egret)

History of changes

• Herodias plumiferus Gould, J. 1848. Descriptions of some new species of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1847(15): 220-222 [Date published 29 Mar 1848] [221].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 6722 Skin, New South Wales.
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 6723 skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E].

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [18].

Generic Combinations

• Ardea intermedia plumifera (1848). —
  Kushlan, J.A. & Hancock, J.A. 2005. The Herons. Bird Families of the World Oxford : Oxford University Press pp. 433.
• Mesophoyx intermedia plumifera (Gould, 1848). —
  Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [126]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Widespread in Australia but much more common in the north, mainly freshwater wetlands but also wet pasture and occasionally tidal flats

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

del Hoyo, J. & Collar, N.J. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International illustrated checklist of the birds of the world. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions pp. 903. [404] (treated at species level, separate from A. intermedia) (Plumed Egret)

Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P. & Franklin, K. 2019. The Australian Bird Guide. Clayton South, VIC : CSIRO Publishing 2nd, pp. 576. [186] (Intermediate Egret)

History of changes

• Ardea pacifica Latham, J. 1801. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. 120-140 pls. [publication dated as 1801 - see Schodde et al. (2010)] [lxv].

  Type data:

   Holotype NMW 47.479 Skin (Ex Leverian Museum), New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Schifter, H., Bauernfeind, E. & Schifter, Th. 2007. Die typen dwer Vogelsammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien. Teil 1, Nonpasseres. - Kataloge der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 20, Heft. 1. pp.376 [45].
• Ardea bullaragang Gloger, C. 1827. Etwas über einige ornithologische Gattungs-benennungen. Notizen aus dem Gebiete der Natur- und Heilkunde Froriep 16: 275-280 [replacement name; unnecessary nomen novum, for A. pacifica Latham (see Wagler 1827: sp. 5.)].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown, New South Wales.
• Ardea bullaranjaus Gray, J.E. 1829. Aves. pp.1-690 in Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. in Griffith, E., Smith, C.H. & Pidgeon, E. The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation, by the Baron Cuvier, member of the Institute of France, &c. with additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed. London : G.B. Whittaker Vol. 3 pp.690. [Date published 1825-1835] [337] [subsequent misspelling].
• Ardea solitaria Cotton, J. 1848. List of birds which frequent the upper portion of the River Goulburn in the district of Port Phillip, New South Wales. Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science 3(5): 361-365 [Date published Jul 1848] [344].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown.
• Myola pacifica alexandri Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [231].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529020 Skin, Alexandria, Northern Territory [19°03'S 136°42'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [240].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

General References

Wagler, J. 1827. Systema Avium. Sturnus, sp. 5. Stuttgart and Tubingen : J.G. Cottae.

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [11] (Pacific Heron, White-necked Crane)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (White-necked Heron)

History of changes

• Ardea sumatrana Raffles, T.S. 1822. Second Part of the Descriptive Catalogue of a Zoological Collection made in the Island of Sumatra and its vicinity. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13(2): 277-340 [325].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown (Unlocated. Raffles = East India Colln), Sumatra, Indonesia.
• Ardea sumatrana mathewsae Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [230].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [239].
• Ardea sumatrana gilberti Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [230].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 528914 Skin, Point Torment, King Sound, Western Australia [17°02'S, 123°35'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [240].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Great-billed Heron)

History of changes

• Bubulcus Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Tableaux Synoptiques de l'Ordre des Herons. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 40(14): 718-725 [Seance April 2] [722].

  Type species:

   Ardea ibis Linnaeus, C., 1758 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Conspectus Generum Avium. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232 pp. [dated 1850-1857] [124]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [53]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [205]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [156].
• Bubulcus Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Conspectus systematis ornithologiae. Annales des Sciences Naturelles Zoologie, Paris 4 1: 105-152 [141].

  Type species:

   Ardea ibis Linnaeus, C., 1758 (= Ardea bubulcus Audouin) by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [53].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ardea ibis Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [144].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Egypt.

Generic Combinations

• Ardeola ibis (Linnaeus, 1758).
• Bubulcus ibis (Linnaeus, 1758).
• Bubulcus ibis (Linnaeus, 1758).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Cattle Egret)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Cattle Egret)

History of changes

• Cancroma coromanda Boddaert, P. 1783. Table des Planches Enluminéez d'Histoire Naturelle, de M. d'Aubenton. Avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precédé d'une Notice des Principaux Ouvrages Zoologiques enluminées. Utrecht : Boddaert xv 58 + 9 pp. [published Dec. 1783 International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature 1985. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Third edition adopted by the XX General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences. London : International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature xx 338 pp. [Art. 3]] [54] (Ex Daubenton, pl. 910 'Crabier de Coromandel').

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), India.
• Ardea coromandeliensis Stephens, J.F. 1819. In, General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves. Pt 2. London : J. Walker Vol. XI 516 pp. (The name of Buffon's 'Crabier de Coromandel' translated into Latin).

  Type data:

   Status unknown, (Latinisation of Buffon's 'Crabier de Coromandel').
• Bubulcus coromandensis Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Conspectus Generum Avium. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232 pp. [dated 1850-1857] [125] [nomen nudem].
• Ardea coromandelica Finsch, O. 1865. Neu-Guinea. pp. [183].
• Buphus coromandelianus Swinhoe, R. 1865. in Letters, extracts from Correspondence, Notices, etc. Ibis New Series 1: NS, 1: 346-359 [355] [nomen nudum].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, (Nomen nudum).

Generic Combinations

• Bubulcus ibis coromandus (Boddaert, 1783).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Butorides Blyth, E. 1852. Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum, Asiatic Society. Calcutta : Asiatic Society of Bengal xxxiv 403 pp. [publication dated as 1849 Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440] [281].

  Type species:

   Ardea javanica Horsfield, 1821 (= Butorides striatus javanicus Horsfield) by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Payne, R.B. 1974. Species limits and variation of the New World Green Herons Butorides virescens and Striated Herons Butorides striatus. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 94: 81-88 [81]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [56].
• Ocniscus Cabanis, J.L. 1856. Dr J. Gundlach's Beiträge zur ornithology Cuba's. Journal für Ornithologie 3: 337-352 [343].

  Type species:

   Ocniscus brunnescens Lembeye, 1850 (new name for Butorides Blyth, 1849) by absolute tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [201]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [56].
• Toburides Mathews, G.M. 1913. New genera. Austral Avian Records 1: 195-196 [Date published 20 Mar 1913] [195].

  Type species:

   Butorides rogersi Mathews, G.M., 1911 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [56].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT) ; NT, Qld, WA: Central Arnhem (CA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

History of changes

• Ardea striata Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae Regnum Animale. Lipsiae : S.G. Englemann 10, pp. 824 +iii. [144].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Surinam.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [56].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT) ; NT, Qld, WA: Central Arnhem (CA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [11] (Green-backed Bittern, Green-backed Heron, Johnny Mangrove, Little Mangrove Bittern, Mangrove Heron, Mangrove Jack, Red Mangrove Heron, Thick-billed Green Bittern)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Striated Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Striated Heron)

History of changes

• Ardetta macrorhyncha Gould, J. 1848. On seven new species of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1848(16): 38-40 [Date published 14 Nov 1848] [39].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6568 (VN 1318) Skin, Gosford, New South Wales [33°25'S, 151°21'E]; ANSP 6569 (VN 1319) Skin (Missing), Gosford, New South Wales [33°25'S, 151°21'E]; LIVCM D.5034 Skin, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [21].
• Butorides javanica littleri Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [233].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529404 Skin, Cooktown, Queensland [15°28'S, 145°15'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [241].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pilbara (PIL), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29)

History of changes

• Butorides rogersi Mathews, G.M. 1911. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27(171): 99-101 [Date published 13 Jul 1911] [101].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529488 Skin, Onslow, Ashburton River, Western Australia [21°38'S, 115°07'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [241]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [56].

Generic Combinations

• Butorides striata rogersi (Mathews, 1911).

Introduction

Validity of this subspecies is uncertain, see Schodde et al (1980)

Distribution

States

Western Australia

IBRA

WA: Carnarvon (CAR), Pilbara (PIL)

General References

Schodde, R., Mason, I.J., Dudzinski, M.L. & McKean, J.L. 1980. Variation in the Striated Heron Butorides striatus in Australasia. Emu 80(4): 203-212

History of changes

• Ardetta stagnatilis Gould, J. 1848. Descriptions of some new species of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1847(15): 220-222 [Date published 29 Mar 1848] [221].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 6566 (VN 1316) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory.
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 6567 (VN 1317) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [138]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [21].
• Butorides striatus cinereus Mayr, E. 1943. Notes on Australian birds. Emu 43: 3-17 [9].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529438 Skin, Derby, King Sound, Western Australia [17°19'S, 123°38'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [241]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Gulf Plains (GUP), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

History of changes

• Egretta Forster, J.R. 1817. Synonymic Catalogue of British Birds. London : British Museum Vol. 17. [59].

  Type species:

   Ardea garzetta Linnaeus, C., 1766 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [194]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [54]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [204]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Egretta Brisson, M.-J. 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. I xxiv 526 lxxiii pp. XXXVII pls. [431].

  Type species:

   Ardea garzetta Linnaeus, C., 1766 by subsequent monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [54].
• Herodias Boie, F. 1822. Uber Classification infonderheit der europáischen Vögel. Isis 10(5): 545-564 [559].

  Type species:

   Ardea garzetta Linnaeus, C., 1766 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1841. A List of the Genera of Birds, with their synonyms and an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J. Taylor xii 115 pp. [Date published Sep 1841] [86].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [194]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [54]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Garzetta Kaup, J. 1829. Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und Natürliches System der Europäischen Thierwelt. Leipzig : C.W. Leske xii 204 pp. [76].

  Type species:

   A[rdea] garzetta Linnaeus, C., 1766 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [194]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [54]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Erodias Brehm, C.L. 1832. Handbuch für den Liebhaber der Stuben-, Haus- und aller der Zähmung werthen Vögel. Ilmenau : Druck und Verlag von Bernh. Friedr. Voigt. pp.412. [352] [emendation; emendation of Herodius Boie, 1822].

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Demigretta Blyth, E. 1846. Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 15: 367-379 [372].

  Type species:

   Demigretta concolor Blyth, E., 1846 (= Ardea sacra Gmelin, 1789) by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [198]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [54]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [204-205]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Demegretta Blyth, E. 1852. Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum, Asiatic Society. Calcutta : Asiatic Society of Bengal xxxiv 403 pp. [publication dated as 1849 Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440] [365] [unjustified emendation].

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Hemiegretta Bonaparte, C.L. 1857. Conspectus generum avium. Paris : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232+23 pp. [published 1850-1857] [120] [as Hemi-egretta. Unjustified emendation].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [198] (Alternate spelling only; unused emmendation); Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Demiegretta Baird, S.F. 1858. Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean... 1853-6. Part II. General report upon the zoology of the several Pacific railroad routes. Birds. lvi + 1005 pp. [660] [unjustified emendation].

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].
• Notophoyx Sharpe, R.B. 1895. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 5: x-xiv [xiii].

  Type species:

   Ardea novaehollandiae Latham, J., 1790 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [196]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [52]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [160].

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

ARDEIDAE: Herodias pannosus Gould, 1848 [type supposedly from Port Stephens, but doubtful = Egretta gularis (Bosc, 1792), see Gould, Handbook to the Birds of Australia 2(1865)305 (as Herodias asha (Sykes, 1832))]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Timor Province (2), Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Coral Sea Islands Territory, Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

History of changes

• Ardea garzetta Linnaeus, C. 1766. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Holmiae [=Stockholm] : Laurentii Salvii, Tomus I. Regnum Animale(1) Editio duodecima, reformata [3 vols., 1766-68], 532 pp. [237].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown, in Oriente = Reno, Italy.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [55].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [11] (Lesser Egret, Spotless Egret)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Little Egret)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21] (Little Egret)

History of changes

• Ardea nigripes Temminck, C.J. 1840. Manuel d'Ornithologie,. Paris : J. Cousin Vol. 4 2, pp.308-691. [\] [376].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) RMNH 87064 Mounted skin, Java, Indonesia; RMNH 87065 Mounted skin, Java , Indonesia; RMNH 87066 Mounted skin, Java, Indonesia; RMNH 87067 Mounted skin, Java, Indonesia; RMNH 87068 Skeleton, Java, Indonesia; NMW 47.482 Skin, Java, Indonesia.

  Type locality references:

  Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., Dekker, R.W.R.J. & Keijl, G.O. 1997. Type-specimens of birds in the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden. NNM Technical Bulletin 1(1): 1-248 [Non-Passerines.] [15].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [195]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [55].
• Herodias immaculata Gould, J. 1846. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 6. [pl. 58].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6687 (VN 1710) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E]; ANSP 6688 (VN 1709) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E].

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [139]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [19].
• Egretta garzetta kempi Mathews, G.M. 1916. List of Additions of New Sub-species to, and Changes in, my " List of the Birds of Australia". Austral Avian Records 3: 53-68 [56].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 529946 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529947 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529948 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529949 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529950 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529951 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529952 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529953 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529954 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529955 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529956 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E]; AMNH 529957 Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [243].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Ardea novaehollandiae Latham, J. 1790. Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London : Leigh & Sotheby Vol. 1 & 2 xviii 920 pp. [701].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) NMW 12.280 Skin (Locality noted as Port Jackson in Schifter et al (2007)), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E]; NMW 49.293 Skin (Locality noted as Port Jackson in Schifter et al (2007)), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E].

  Type locality references:

  Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105-124 [120]; Schifter, H., Bauernfeind, E. & Schifter, Th. 2007. Die typen dwer Vogelsammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien. Teil 1, Nonpasseres. - Kataloge der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 20, Heft. 1. pp.376 [46].
• Ardea leucops Wagler, J. 1827. Systema Avium. Pars prima. Stuttgart and Tubingen : J.G. Cottae 411 (unpaginated). [181] (Ardea, sp. 17) [new name for A. novaehollandiae Latham. Unnecessary nomen novum].
• Notophoyx novaehollandiae parryi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [231].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 529137 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [240].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [11] (Blue Crane, Matuka, White-fronted Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (White-faced Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21] (White-faced Heron)

History of changes

• Ardea (Herodias) picata Gould, J. 1845. Untitled. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 1845(13): 62-63 [Date published Sep 1845] [62].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6668 (VN 1714) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory; ANSP 6669 (VN 1715) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory; ANSP 6670 (VN 1716) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [19].
• Notophoyx flavirostris Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. 1898. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [654] [unnecessary change of name for Ardea picata Raffles].
• Tonophoyx aruensis normani Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [126].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) AMNH 529162 - 529175 n=14, Skin, Normanton, Queensland [17°40'S, 141°05'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [240].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [11] (Pied Egret, White-headed Egret)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Pied Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21] (Pied Heron)

History of changes

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders (FLI), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Timor Province (2), Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Coral Sea Islands Territory, Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [12] (Blue Heron, Blue Reef Heron, Reef Egret, Reef Heron, Sacred Heron, White Heron, White Reef Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Eastern Reef Egret)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21] (Eastern Reef Egret)

History of changes

• Ardea sacra Gmelin, J.F 1789. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Vol. 1 pp. 501–1032. [640].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Tahiti Island, Society Islands.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [55].
• Herodias greyi Gray, G.R. 1844. List of Specimens of Birds in the Collection of the British Museum, London. London : British Museum Part 3. [80] [nomen nudum].
• Herodias greyi Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : Gould, J. Vol. 6 pp. [pl. 61].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 6672 (VN 1712) Skin (Listed as Holotype by Meyer de Schauensee (1957) but see Ingersoll & Fisher (2006)), Raine Island, Queensland [11°35'S, 144°02'E].
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 6671 (VN 1711) Skin, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [138]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [20].
• Demigretta sacra cooktowni Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [232].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530147 Skin, Cooktown, Queensland [15°28'S, 145°15'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [243].
• Demigretta sacra tormenti Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [232].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530138 Skin, Point Torment, King Sound, Western Australia [17°02'S, 123°35'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [243].
• Demigretta sacra buchanani Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 81-103 [Date published 18 Sep 1912] [85].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530142 Skin, Buchanan Island, Northern Territory [11°49'S, 130°39'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [243].
• Demigretta matook carteri Mathews, G.M. 1920. Descriptions of new subspecies of Australian birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 40(76): 75-76 [Date published 30 Jan 1920] [75].

  Type data:

   Holotype NMV HLW.7020 Skin, Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia [34°22'S, 115°08'E].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders (FLI), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Timor Province (2), Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Coral Sea Islands Territory, Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

History of changes

• Nycticorax Forster, J.R. 1817. Synonymic Catalogue of British Birds. London : British Museum Vol. 17. [59].

  Type species:

   Nycticorax infaustus Forster, T., 1817 (= Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, 1758) by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [199]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [228]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [163].
• Nycticorax Moehring, P.H.G. 1758. Geslachten der Vogelen … Uit het Latyn vertaald en met Aantekeningen vermeerderd / door C. Nozeman, en naar die Vertsaling uitgegeeven en met eene Voorreden, Aantekeningen en Naamlyst der voornaamste Schryveren die over de Vogelen geschreeven hebben vermeerderd ; door A. Vosmaer. te Amsteldam Vol. 2 [xxvii, 7] 97 [3], 2 pls col. 8. [75].

  Type species:

   Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, C., 1758 by original designation.
• Nycticorax Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises. Palermo (Italy) : Privately Published 224 pp. [Date published April to July] [71] [nomen nudum = Nycticorax Linnaeus, 1758].

  Type species:

   Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, C., 1758 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1898. Plataleae (Ibises and Spoonbills) and Herodiones (Herons and Storks). pp.1-328 in Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [145].
• Nyctiardea Swainson, W. 1837. On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. In, Lardner, D. (ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor Vol. 2(92) vi 398 pp. [publication dated 1836-1837 Kluge, A.G. 1971. John Edward Gray and "The Zoological Miscellany". In Gray, J.E. (1831–1844). The Zoological Miscellany. [reprint]. U.S.A. Misc. Publ. of Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.] [354] [new name for Nycticorax, Forster, 1817].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57].
• Scotaeus Keyserling, A.F. & Blasius, J.H. 1840. Die Wirbelthiere Europa's; Die Unterscheidenden Charactere. Braunschweig : Friedrich Vieweg Vol. 1 xcviii 248 pp. [lxxx, 220] [new name for Nycticorax Forster, 1817].

  Type species:

   Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, C., 1758 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57].
• Nycterodius MacGillivray, W. 1842. A Manual of British Ornithology. The water birds. London : Scott, Webster & Geary Vol. 2 pp.242. [126] [new name for Nycticorax Forster, 1817].

  Type species:

   Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, C., 1766 (= Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus, 1766) by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57].
• Calherodius Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Conspectus Generum Avium. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232 pp. [dated 1850-1857] [139].

  Type species:

   Ardea cucullata Lichtenstein, M.H.K., 1854 (= Nycticorax leuconotus Wagler, 1827) by monotypy, see Sharpe, R.B. 1898. Plataleae (Ibises and Spoonbills) and Herodiones (Herons and Storks). pp.1-328 in Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [157]; Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [163].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34)

History of changes

• Ardea caledonica Gmelin, J.F 1789. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Vol. 1 pp. 501–1032. [626].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New Caledonia.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [12] (Crane, Nankeen Crane)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Nankeen Night Heron)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [21] (Nankeen Night-Heron)

History of changes

• Ardea australasiae Vieillot, L.P. 1823. L'Abbé Bonnaterre in Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature. Ornithologie. Paris : Mme veuve Agasse Vol. 3 pp.901-1460. [1130].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1913. A Reference List of the Birds of New Zealand. Part 2. Ibis 10 1(3): 402-452 [405]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [163].
• Ardea maculata Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [lxiv].

  Secondary source:

   Latham, J. 1801. Supplimentum II Indicus Ornithologici. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby pp.376. [305. (19)].
• Ardea novaehollandiae Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, principalement à l'Agriculture, à l'Écomomie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une société de naturalistes et d'agriculteurs. Nouvelle edition. Paris : Déterville Vol. 14. [Date published 13 Sep 1817] [417].
• Ardea sparmanni Wagler, J. 1827. Systema Avium. Pars prima. Stuttgart and Tubingen : J.G. Cottae 411 (unpaginated). [188, sp. 32] (Ardea).
• Ardea australis Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. 1898. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [158].
• Nycticorax caledonicus hilli Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [233].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530332 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [244].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Botaurinae Reichenbach, H.G.L. 1849. Die vollstiindigste Naturgeschichte des In-und Auslandes. Abt. II. Vögel, Band I. Avium systema naturale. Das natiirliche System der Vögel. Vorliiufer einer Iconographie der Arten der Vogel aller Welttheile. Dresden & Leipzig : Expeditionder vollstiindigsten Naturgeschichte pp.viii + 36 + xxxi pp. and 100 uncoloured plates. [Date published 1849-1850] [vi] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Botaurus Stephens, 1819.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [131].

History of changes

• Botaurus Stephens, J.F. 1819. In, General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves. Pt 2. London : J. Walker Vol. XI 516 pp. [592].

  Type species:

   Ardea stellaris Linnaeus, C., 1758 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [66].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [163].
• Botaurus Brisson, M.-J 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. V pp.544+lvi. [444, pl. xxxvii].

  Type species:

   Botaurus stellaris Linnaeus, C., 1766 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Carnarvon (CAR), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders (FLI), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ardea poiciloptila Wagler, J. 1827. Systema Avium. Pars prima. Stuttgart and Tubingen : J.G. Cottae 411 (unpaginated). (Ardea, no. 28, note).

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59].
• Botaurus australis Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : Gould, J. Vol. 6 pp. [64, (pt. xxx))].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6543 (No VN) Skin, South Australia; ANSP 6545 (No VN) Skin, South Australia; ANSP 6544 (No VN) SKin, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [22].
• Botaurus poiciloptilus westralensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [235].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530808 Skin, Sharks Bay, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245].
• Ardea poiceloptera Hutton, F.W. 1871. Catalogue of the birds of New Zealand with diagnoses of the species. Wellington : New Zealand Geological Survey Vol. x+85 pp. [28] [subsequent misspelling].
• Botaurus poecilopterus Walker, J.J. 1892. Bird Life of Adele Island, North-West Australia. Ibis 6 4: 254-261 [260] (Misspelling) [subsequent misspelling].
• Botaurus poeciloptila Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Tableaux Synoptiques de l'Ordre des Herons. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 40(14): 718-725 [Seance April 2] [723] [emendation; nomen nudum].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Carnarvon (CAR), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders (FLI), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [12] (Australian Bittern, Bittern, Black-backed Bittern, Boomer, Brown Bittern, Bull-bird, Bunyip, Matuka-lurepo)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Australasian Bittern)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Australasian Bittern)

History of changes

• Dupetor Heine, F. & Reichenow, A. 1890. Nomenclator Musei Heineani Ornithologici. Verzeichniss der Vogel-Sammlung des Königlichen Oberamtmanns Ferdinand Heine. Berlin : R. Friedländer pp. vi + 373. [308].

  Type species:

   Ardea flavicollis Latham, J., 1790 by subsequent monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [237].
• Ardeola Brisson, M.-J. 1760. Ornithologia sive Synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates. Paris : J.-B. Bauche. [479] [non generic name].

  Type species:

   Ardea brasiliensis Linnaeus, C., 1766 (= Tigrisoma lineatum Boddaert) by original designation.
• Ixobrychus Billberg, G.J. 1828. Synopsis Faunae Scandinaviae. Tom. I, Pars 2. Aves. Holmiae 208 pp. [For publication date Richmond, C.W. 1900. Some necessary changes in nomenclature. Auk ns 17: 178–179 Lysaght, A. 1957. The first specimens of Dacelo novaeguineae and D. leachii in European collections. Emu 57: 209–210 Mathews, G.M. 1926. An important date. Emu 26: 148] [166].

  Type species:

   Ardea minuta Linnaeus, C., 1766 by subsequent designation, see Stone, W. 1907. Some changes in the current generic names of North American birds. Auk 24(2): 189-199 [192].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [57]; Payne, R.B. 1979. family Ardeidae. pp.193-244 in Mayr, E. & Cottrell, G.W. Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology Vol. 1 Edn 2, pp.xvii + 547. [237]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [164].
• Ardetta Gray, G.R. 1842. A List of the Genera of Birds, with their synonyms and an indication of the typical species of each genus. Appendix. London : R. & J.E. Taylor iv 16 pp. [published Mar.-Apr] [13].

  Type species:

   Ardea minuta Linnaeus, 1766 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [58]; Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [164].
• Erodiscus Gloger, C.W.L. 1842. Gemeinnütziges Hand-und Hilfsbuch der Naturgeschichte. Für gebildete Leser aller Stände, besonders für die reifere Jugend und ihre Lehrer. Breslau : A. Schulz & Co. Vol. 1 xxxxiv 495 pp. [publication dated 1842] [410].

  Type species:

   Ardea minuta Linnaeus, C., 1766 (not Schoenherr, 1825) by subsequent monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [202]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [58].
• Nannocnus Stejneger, L. 1887. Review of Japanese birds. V. Ibises, storks, and herons. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 10: 271-319 [291].

  Type species:

   Ardetta eurhythma Swinhoe, R., 1873 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Scofield, R.P. 2010. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, Ibises and Allies. pp.156-168 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [164].
• Xanthocnus Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 3: xxxvii-xlix [xxxvii].

  Type species:

   Ardea flavicollis Latham, J., 1790 by subsequent designation, see Sharpe, R.B. 1895. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 5: x-xiv [431].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59].
• Erythrophoyx Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 3: xxxvii-xlix [xxxviii].

  Type species:

   Egretta woodfordi Ogilvie-Grant, W.R., 1888 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Agassiz, A. 1898. Reports on the dredging operations off the west coast of Central America to the Galapagos, to the west coast of Mexico, and in the Gulf of California, in charge of Alexander Agassiz, carried on by the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, during 1891, Lieut. Commander Z.L. Tanner, U.S.N., commanding. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard 32(5): 71-86 pls 1-13 [252].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Jarrah Forest (JF), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ixobrychus minutus dubius Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [234].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1949.64.244 Skin, Herdmans Lake, Western Australia [31°55'S, 115°48'E].

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [85].
• Ardea pusilla Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, principalement à l'Agriculture, à l'Écomomie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une société de naturalistes et d'agriculteurs. Nouvelle edition. Paris : Déterville Vol. 14. [Date published 13 Sep 1817] [432] (Not Mueller, 1776).

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [58].
• Ixobrychus minutus alisteri Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my Reference List, Addenda. Austral Avian Records 1(8): 187-194 [Date published Jan.] [188].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530484 Skin, Long Bay, Sydney, New South Wales [33°58'S, 151°15'E]
  Comment: New name for A. pusilla Vieillot.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [244]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [58].
• Ixobrychus minutus queenslandicus Mathews, G.M. 1914. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2(5): 83-107 [Date published 24 Sep 1914] [89].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530481 Skin, Kedron Brook, Queensland [27°25'S, 131°42'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245].
• Ixobrychus minutus victoria Mathews, G.M. 1915. Two new subspecies. Austral Avian Records 3(1): 24 [Date published 30 Jun 1915] [24].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 530485 Skin, Geelong, Victoria [38°09'S, 144°21'E]; AMNH 530486 Skin, Geelong, Victoria [38°09'S, 144°21'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245].

Introduction

Recognised as full species following Christidis and Boles (2008: 108).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Jarrah Forest (JF), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR)

Distribution References

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [108]

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [12] (Kaoriki, Little Bittern, Minute Bittern)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Australian Little Bittern)

History of changes

• Ardea flavicollis Latham, J. 1790. Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London : Leigh & Sotheby Vol. 1 & 2 xviii 920 pp. [701].

  Type data:

   
  Status unknown, Unknown (Determination of type locality apud Mathews), India = South China; Unknown (Determination of type locality apud Mathews), India = South China.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [12] (Yellow-necked Bittern, Yellow-necked Mangrove Bittern)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Black Bittern)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [20] (Black Bittern)

History of changes

• Ardea australis Lesson, R.P. & Prêtre, J.G. 1831. Traité d'ornithologie, ou, Tableau méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux : ouvrage entièrement neuf, formant le catalogue le plus complet des espèces réunies dans les collections publiques de la France. Bruxelles : Chez F.G. Levrault Vol. 1 pp. 704. [574].
• Ardetta gouldi Bonaparte, C.L. 1855. Conspectus Generum Avium. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232 pp. [dated 1850-1857] [132] (Nomen nudum).
• Ardea flavicollis australis Schlegel, H. 1863. Museum d'historie naturelle des Pay-Bas. Revue mathodique et critique des collections deposees dans cet etablisement. Leiden Vol. 5 pp. [46].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59].
• Ardieralla flavicollis olivei Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [234].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530740 Skin, Johnstone River, Queensland [17°31'S, 146°04'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [59].
• Ardieralla flavicollis disneyi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [234].

  Type data:

   Holotype 530737 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245].
• Ardieralla flavicollis melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 73-80 [Date published 28 Jun 1912] [74].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 530731 Skin, Melville Island, Northern Territory [11°33'S, 130°56'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [245].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ardetta punctata Gray, G.R. 1844. List of Specimens of Birds in the Collection of the British Museum, London. London : British Museum Part 3. [83] (Nomen nudum).

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. & Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. 1898. Catalogue of the Plataleae, Herodiones, Steganopodes, Pygopodes, Alcae, and Impennes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : Trustees British Museum Vol. 26 pp. xvii + 687. [235]; Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [237].

History of changes