• Gruidae Vigors, N.A. 1825. Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 14: 395-517 [413, 488] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Grus Pallas, 1766 [Grus Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 5: 374-391 (gender: feminine) (type species, by absolute tautonymy: Ardea grus Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 141) (Aves). Op. 103, Direction 55].

  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 [136].
• Gruinae 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].

  Type genus:

   Grus Pallas, 1766.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [145].
• Anthropoideae Bonaparte, C.L. 1857. Conspectus generum avium. Paris : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232+23 pp. [published 1850-1857] [101].

  Type genus:

   Anthropoides Vieillot, 1816.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [145].
• Psophiinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1831. Saggio di una distribuzione metodica degli animali vertebrati. Giornale Arcadico di Scienze Lettere ed Arti 49: 3-77 [33].

  Type genus:

   Psophia Linnaeus, 1758 [type = Psophia crepitans, Linnaeus 1758 = Psophiidae [Not Psophinae, Gray, G.R. 1840, p. 66 = Psophila Latham]].
• Balaericinae Brasil, L. 1913. Part 19. Grues. Fam. Gruidae. pp.1-9 in Wytsman, P. Genera avium. Brussels : V. Verteneuil & L. Desmet pp. [8].

  Type genus:

   Balearica Brisson, 1760.

  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 [136].
• Megalornithidae Richmond, C.W. 1917. Generic names applied to birds, with additions and corrections to Waterhouse's "Index Genera Avium". Proceedings of the United States National Museum 53: 565-636 [633].

  Type genus:

   Megalornis Gray, G.R., 1841 [a junior synonym of Grus Brisson].

  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 [136].
• †Geranoididae Wetmore, A. 1933. Fossil Bird Remains from the Eocene of Wyoming. Condor 35(3): 115-118 [115].

  Type genus:

   †Geranoides Wetmore, A., 1933.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [146].
• †Eogruidae Wetmore, A. 1934. Fossil birds from Mongolia and China. American Museum Novitates 711: 1-16 [3].

  Type genus:

   †Eogrus Wetmore, A., 1934.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [150].

Introduction

The 15 species within the family Gruidae comprise one or two genera of which two species, in the genus Grus>, occur in Australia. This family occurs in Eurasia, Africa, Australia and North America, and is vagrant to New Zealand. Each may be described as being large or very large with long necks and legs; they also have long sturdy bills. They have an enlarged caeca and a cleft palate, and the reduced hallux on the anisodactyl foot is elevated above the other three toes. The sexes do not vary in their external morphology although males are slightly larger. Plumage is basically either or white or grey (to bluish); those frequenting extensive wetlands have greater amounts of white whereas those found in smaller wetlands, grasslands or forest are greyer; white birds are generally larger and all have black flight feathers. The majority of species have areas of bare reddish facial and neck skin while some have plumes and red combs on the head. All exhibit long tertials extending beyond their tail and inner flight feathers.

Gruids are gregarious during the non-breeding season when they gather in large flocks. All fly with outstretched necks and trailing legs often soaring to considerable heights. While several of the non Australian species migrate long distances, Australia’s usually sedentary G. rubicunda and G. antigone, only migrate to wetter regions during periods of drought. A characteristic of the family is the often noisy congregations. These are often associated with courtship displays of elaborate dancing, which may involve single birds or groups; dances are also used to distract predators from the young or nests. The vocalisation, usually a loud bugling or trumpeting uttered at either dawn or dusk, is through the use of a convoluted tracheal arrangement. Their trachea is elongate, partially coiled and penetrates the sternum, in some species the trachea is fused with the sternum, allowing the bugling to carry for a considerable distance.

The Australian species frequent open wetlands and grasslands, feeding opportunistically by alternating the diet according to food availability. They are omnivores, feeding on small rodents, fish, amphibians, snakes, terrestrial invertebrates, crustaceans, grain, berries, and tubers.

Courtship is initiated by the pair conducting their spectacular dance often in association with other pairs, pairing is generally permanent amongst the family. The paired birds then select a nest site, which is on the ground in shallow water surrounded by protective plants, and isolated from other nest sites. Both adults construct the large nest — a flat platform nest of weeds and rushes. Each clutch contains two long-oval eggs that are off white or pale cream base colour and sometimes faintly blotched cream or buff overall. Both adults incubate the eggs alternately, the incubation lasting between 28 and 36 days.

The young, upon hatching, are both nidicolous and precocial, being covered by a tawny or grey down. Again both adults care for the young, which may leave the nest within a few days of hatching. The family group remains together for nine months until the next breeding season when the adults drive off the young.

General References

Archibald, G. & Meine, C. 1996. Family Gruidae (Cranes). pp. 60-81 in del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Saragatal, J. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions Vol. 3.

Campbell, B. & Lack, E. (eds) 1985. A Dictionary of Birds. Calton : T. & A.D. Poyser xxx 670 pp.

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

History of changes

• Antigone Reichenbach, L. 1853. Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie. Dresden : Expedition der Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte Lief. 3 xxxi pp. [publication dated as 1852].

  Type species:

   Ardea antigone Linnaeus, 1758 by original designation.
• Mathewsia Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47].

  Type species:

   Ardea rubicunda Perry, 1810 by original designation.

Introduction

The species in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Grus Peters, 1934, however Krajewski (1989) suggested that Grus as constituted by Peters (1934) was not monophyletic. Subsequent studies have recovered three well supported clades within the species previously placed in Grus, including an "Antigone" clade comprising the Australian species G. antigone & G. rubicunda, the east Asian G. vipio and the North American G. canadensis (see Krajewski et al., 2010). These clades have now become adopted as genera with the Antigone clade placed in the genus Antigone Reichenbach (1853).

Species in this genus are sometimes placed in the subgenus Mattewsia which was proposed by Iredale (1911) as a replacement generic name for Ardea rubicunda Perry 1810, which was misidentified as a species of Ardea. Iredale's (1911) proposal was based on the understanding that the name Antigone was preoccupied by Antigone Gray, 1853 in Mollusca, however Brasil (1912) believed that this was not the case and the name Antigone was available for the work of Reichenbach (1853). As such we follow the work of Krajewski et al. (2010) and others in placing these species in the genus Antigone, and do not include the subgenus Mattewsia.

Distribution

States

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

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), 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), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), 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 Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

General References

Brasil, L. 1912. On the generic names Antigone and Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 122-123

Gray, J.E. 1847. A list of the Genera of Recent Mollusca, their Synonyms and Types. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 15: 129-242 [184]

Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47]

Krajewski, C. 1989. Phylogenetic relationships among cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae) based on DNA hybridization. Auk 106: 603-618

Krajewski, C., Sipiorski, J.T. & Anderson, E. 2010. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences and the phylogeny of Cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae). Auk 127(2): 440-452

Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [pl. 22, two following pages] (page numbering follows Mathews & Iredale (1912).)

Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]

Reichenbach, L. 1853. Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie. Dresden : Expedition der Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte Lief. 3 xxxi pp. [publication dated as 1852]

History of changes

• Ardea antigone 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. [142].

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [152].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone antigone (Linnaeus, 1758).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

NT, Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), 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. (Sarus Crane)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Sarus Crane)

History of changes

• Grus antigone gillae Schodde, R. 1989. New subspecies of Australian birds. Canberra Bird Notes 13: 119-122 [Date published 28 Feb 1989] [119].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANWC B.38355 Skin, 14 km north of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°20'S, 141°11'E].
  Paratype(s) ANWC B.38353 Skin, 23km ENE of Kurumba, Queensland [17°27'S, 141°03'E]; ANWC B.38354 Skin, 14 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°20'S, 141°11'E]; ANWC B.38356 Skin, 32 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°11'S, 141°12'E]; ANWC B.38357 Skin, 36 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°09'S, 141°13'E]; QM O.11076 Skin (Also holotype of G.a. fordi Bruce & McAllan), Willets Swamp, near Atherton, Queensland.
• Grus antigone fordi McAllan, I.A.W. & Bruce, M.D. 1989. The Birds of New South Wales A Working List. Turramurra, New South Wales : Biocon Research Group vii 103 pp. [publication dated 1988, published May 1989] [19].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM O.11076 Skin, Willets Swamp, near Atherton, Queensland.

  Type locality references:

  McAllan, I.A.W. & Bruce, M.D. 1989. The Birds of New South Wales A Working List. Turramurra, New South Wales : Biocon Research Group vii 103 pp. [publication dated 1988, published May 1989] [19].
• Grus antigone gilliae Rogers, D.I. 1993. Grus antigone Sarus Crane. pp. 480-485 in Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (eds). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Melbourne : Oxford University Press Vol. 2. [485] [subsequent misspelling; misspelling of G.a. gillae Schodde].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone antigone gillae (Schodde, 1989).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

NT, Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ardea rubicunda Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [Pt. 4, p. 22].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Ex Bullock Museum), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].
• Grus antarctica Illiger, J.C.W. 1816. Tabellarische Üebersicht der Vertheilung der Vöegel üeber die Erde. Abhandlungen der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin 1816: 221-236 [230].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.
• Grus australasianus Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : Gould, J. Vol. 6 pp. [pl. 48].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 11142 (VN 1642) Skin, New South Wales; ANSP 11141 (VN 1643) 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 [153]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [49].
• Ardea antigone Anon. In Field, B. (ed.) 1825. Geographical Memoirs on New South Wale; by various hands: containing … together with other papers on the aborigines, the geology, the timber, the astronomy, and the meteorology of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. London : John Murray xvi 504 pp. [nomen nudum].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Possible synonym of A. rubicunda Perry), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E].
• Mathewsia rubicunda argentea Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [227].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 544803 Skin, Near Derby, 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 [301].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone rubicunda (Perry, 1810). —
  Brasil, L. 1912. On the generic names Antigone and Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 122-123 [123]

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

New Guinea

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), 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), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), 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 Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), 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. [18] (Australian 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. (Brolga)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Brolga)

History of changes

• Grus 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. [375].

  Type species:

   Ardea grus 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. [108]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 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. [177].
• Grus Pallas, P.S. 1766. Miscellanea Zoologica. Quibus novae imprimis atque obsurae animalium species describunter et observantionibus icomibusque illustrantur. Hagae. Comitum : Hague Vol. 12 224 pp. [66] [junior homonyn of Grus Brisson, 1760].

  Type species:

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

  Secondary source:

   Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 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. [177].

History of changes

• Mathewsia Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47] [new name replacing Antigone Reichenbach, 1853, not Antigone G.R. Gray].

  Type species:

   Ardea rubicunda Perry, 1810 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. [188]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].
• Antigone Reichenbach, H.G.L. 1853. Die Vollständigste Naturgeschichte..., 2 Vögel, 1 Avium Syst. nat. Dresden-Leipzig : F. Hofmeister pp. 5-18. [xxiii].

  Type species:

   Ardea collaris Boddaert, 1783 (not Antigone Gray, 1847) 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. [108].
• Mathewsena Iredale, T. 1914. On the genus -name Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 2: 81-82 [82] [new name for Mathewsia Iredale,1911; not Mathewsia Sauley, 1868 (= Coleoptera)].

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].

History of changes