Family PODICIPEDIDAE Bonaparte, 1831

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• Podicepinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1831. Saggio di una distribuzione metodica degli animali vertebrati. Giornale Arcadico di Scienze Lettere ed Arti 49: 3-77 [62] [original spelling; Podicipedidae Bonaparte, 1831 (Podiceps Latham, 1787) was placed on the Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology as Podicipitidae (ICZN Direction 75, Henning, 1957) and corrected to Podicipedidae on the Official List (Opinion 981, issued May, 1972, BZN, 29: 15-17). In addition the spelling variants Podicepinae Bonaparte, 1832 (/i>Podiceps Latham, 1787), Podicepsinae G. R. Gray, 1840 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), Podicipinae Bonaparte, 1838 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), and Podicipedidae Ogilvie-Grant, 1898 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), have been placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Family-Group Names in Zoology. In addition the spelling variants Podicepinae Bonaparte, 1832 (/i>Podiceps Latham, 1787), Podicepsinae G. R. Gray, 1840 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), Podicipinae Bonaparte, 1838 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), and Podicipedidae Ogilvie-Grant, 1898 (Podiceps Latham, 1787), have been placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Family-Group Names in Zoology (Henning 1957)].

  Type genus:

   Podiceps Latham, 1787.

  Secondary source:

   Storer 1979. Order Podicipediformes. pp.140-155 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. [140].
• Podicipedidae Bonaparte, C.L. 1831. Saggio di una distribuzione metodica degli animali vertebrati. Giornale Arcadico di Scienze Lettere ed Arti 49: 3-77 [62] [subsequent misspelling; correction of Podicepinae Bonaparte, ICZN (Aves) Direction 75, 0pinion 981].

  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 [226]; Melville, R.V. 1972. Podicipedidae Bonaparte, 1831 (831 Aves); validated under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 29(1): 15-18; Storer 1979. Order Podicipediformes. pp.140-155 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. [140].
• Podilymbinae Coues, E. 1862. A synopsis of the North American forms of the Colymbidae and Podicidae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia 14: 226-233 [232].

  Type genus:

   Podilymbus Lesson, 1831.

  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].
• Colymbidae Reichenow, A. 1889. Systematisches Verzeichniss der Vögel Deutschlands und des angrenzenden Mittel-Europas. Berlin pp.68. [Verlag d. Linnaea].

  Type genus:

   Colymbus Linnaeus, 1758 [not Colymbus immer Linnaeus, 1758 = Gavia J.R. Forster 1788].

  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].

Introduction

Podicipediiformes comprises this single homogeneous family that has a cosmopolitan distribution (apart from Antarctica and Oceania). Many species are residents although some exhibit migratory or nomadic patterns. Twenty-two species in six genera are assigned to Podicipedidae, three of which are Australian. They are small to medium-sized aquatic diving birds. The laterally compressed foot has all four anisodactyl, the hallux being vestigial, and has elongate toes, broadly lobed with the claws flattened like fingernails; these assist propulsion for swimming and diving. The legs are situated towards the rear of the body, assisting with movement, but making the birds ungainly on land. Otherwise their bodies are stocky, their necks slender and the heads small; the tail feathers are rudimentary. Swimming is achieved by use of the legs and feet only; the feet are also used for steering when in flight. To gain flight grebes run across the water surface using their feet and flapping their short wings. They fly well but usually for short duration and distances although lengthy nocturnal movements are common.

Sexes are similar, generally counter-shaded, darker above and paler below, and several have coloured tufts or crests that are used during courtship. The plumage is thick and short, presenting a satiny appearance; the feathers on the lower breast and abdomen protrude at right angles from the body while having slightly curled tips. This allows podicipedids to compress their feather thus adjusting buoyancy. Grebes also experience two distinctive plumages: the non-breeding season dull plumage, and a brighter, well-marked breeding plumage. They are found in freshwater lakes, ponds, and marshes with emergent vegetation, although they often use brackish coastal waters in winter.

Congregations or singles occur during the non-breeding period. Vocalisations are generally restricted to communication between pairs or groups. The voice has been described as variety of whistling or barking calls. All grebes are omnivorous, their food including aquatic insects, crustaceans, molluscs, fish and some vegetable matter. The beak is adapted to procure these items: it is slender and sharply pointed. To assist in prevention of internal injury by bones of their prey the birds often consume their own feathers.

Pairs may use elaborate courtship displays prior to nesting. Nests are a floating platform of heaped aquatic plants; these are collected from adjacent shallow water through the adults diving and ripping the vegetation from the bottom. The nest has a shallow cup into which three to six roughly textured, chalky eggs are deposited; these are incubated by both adults and covered when the adults are absent. Eggs are elliptical and are naturally creamy white, becoming stained browner from the decomposing nesting material. Incubation lasts 20–30 days and both adults share both the responsibility of incubation and also natal care. Nestlings are nidifugous and precocial, leaving the nest almost immediately after hatching. Their fine downy feathers have the appearance of striped black and white, the head and neck being both streaked and spotted. Adults carry their offspring on their backs both during surface swimming and diving; and include their own body feathers in the diet of the young.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:0843
PODICIPEDIDAE: Tachybaptus ruficollis (Pallas, 1764) [Little Grebe; one confirmed record, adult at Darwin, NT on 26 Sept. - 5 Oct. 1999] — Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2004. Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) Edn 7, pp. 382.; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [15, 68]

General References

Bocheński, Z.M. 1994. The comparative osteology of grebes (Aves: Podicipedidae) and its systematic implications. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 37: 191-346

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

Fjeldså, J. 2004. The Grebes. London : Oxford University Press 1, pp. 264.

Henning, F. 1957. Direction 75. Suppression under the plenary powers of the family-group name Urinatoridae (correction of Urinatores) Vieillot, 1818, and addition of the names Podicipitidae (correction of Podicepinae) Bonaparte, 1831, and Gaviidae Coues, 1903, as the family-group names for grebes and divers (loons) respectively (Class Aves) (Direction supplementary to Opinion 401). Opinions and Declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 13(22): 291-308 [Date published 21 July 1957]

History of changes