Genus Anhinga Brisson, 1760

Museums

Regional Maps

• Anhinga 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. [60, 6: 476].

  Type species:

   Anhinga anhinga Brisson, M.-J, 1760 (as Anhinga; = Plotus anhinga Linnaeus, 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. [229]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [45]; Dorst, J. & Mougin, J-L 1979. Order Pelecaniformes. pp. 155-193 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. [179]; 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. [153].
• Notoplotus Mathews, G.M. 1920. The Birds of Australia. Supplement No. 1. Check List of the Birds of Australia Part 1. Orders Casuariiformes to Menuriformes. London : Witherby & Co. pp.iv + 1-116. [62].

  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. [229]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [45]; Dorst, J. & Mougin, J-L 1979. Order Pelecaniformes. pp. 155-193 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. [179].
• Plotus 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. [218] [not Plotus Gunnerus, 1761].

  Type species:

   Plotus anhinga 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. [229].

Introduction

After Peters (1931) recorded four species in the genus Anhinga, many subsequent authors only recognised two, A. anhinga from Central & South America, and A. melanogaster for specimens from Africa across southern Asia to Australia. However, Schodde et al. (2012) established that four species in the genus were valid, removing A. novaehollandiae and A. rufa from synonymy or treatment as subspecies of A. melanogaster (see also Christidis & Boles 2008). Schodde et al.(2012) also found evidence of differentiation within A. novaehollandiae and A. rufa great enough to recognise subspecies within each taxon. We follow the classification of Schodde et al. (2012) with A. novaehollandiae novaehollandiae recorded from Australia, and A. novaehollandiae papua from New Guinea and satellite islands.

Distribution

States

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

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), 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), 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), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), 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), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [102] (accept only a single species, thus raising A. novaehollandiae)

Peters, J.L. 1931. Check-list of the Birds of the World. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press Vol. 1 xviii +345 pp. [94]

Schodde, R., Kirwan, G.M. & Porter, R. 2012. Morphological differentiation and speciation among darters (Anhinga). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 132(4): 283-294

History of changes