Classification

Distinguishing taxonomic features

The classification of the order Pelecaniformes is based mainly on morphological features. Recent attempts have been made to clarify relationships by analysis of egg white proteins and by comparative analysis of social behaviour. The parasitic feather lice (Mallophaga) found on members of the different groups also provide clues to relationships.

The six modern families of pelecaniform birds are readily distinguished, although the relationships among them are not firmly established. The families are internally homogeneous, and in each of them the modern species are often placed in single genera; the Phaethontidae, Fregatidae, Pelecanidae, and Anhingidae are usually treated in this way.

Annotated classification

• Order Pelecaniformes

  Aquatic birds with totipalmate feet (webs connecting all 4 toes); 1st toe (hallux) not pointing backward as in most birds but turned inward and joined by a web to 2nd toe. 66 species.

  • Suborder Phaethontes

    • Family Phaethontidae (tropic birds)

      Medium sized (16–19 inches or 40–48 cm long). Plumage satiny white with black markings; central 2 tail feathers much elongated in adult. Sexes similar. Bill laterally compressed, slightly decurved, and with undivided horny sheath (rhamphotheca). Nostrils open in slits; nasal glands each with 2 ducts. No naked gular (throat) pouch. Neck short, 14–15 cervical vertebrae. Pelvic girdle reduced, legs short, set far back. No nest-building behaviour. Single egg heavily marked with brown and black. Chick hatched covered with gray down. 1 genus, Phaethon; 3 living species, worldwide in tropical oceans.

  • Suborder Fregatae

    • Family Fregatidae (frigate birds)

      Large (31–34 inches or 79–86 cm long), light bodied. Plumage blackish, juveniles and some adults with white underparts; juveniles with white heads, sometimes tinged orange. Wings very long, pointed; tail deeply forked. Sexes differ in size (female larger) and in coloration of plumage and soft parts. Bill long, slender, strongly hooked at tip; horny sheath divided by deep grooves. Nostrils almost closed; nasal glands each with single duct. Small gular pouch, highly distensible and brilliant red in courting male. Neck short, 14–15 cervical vertebrae. Furculum (wishbone) fused with coracoids and with sternum (breastbone). Pelvic girdle and leg muscles reduced; legs very short. Feet small, webbing only between bases of toes. One white, thin-shelled egg. Young naked at birth, soon acquire thick white down. 1 genus, Fregata; 5 living species; worldwide in tropical oceans.

  • Suborder Pelecani

    Horny sheath of bill divided by deep grooves (largely suppressed in anhingas). Naked gular pouch; facial skin and pouch colourful, especially in breeding season. Nasal glands each with a single duct. Neck long, with 17–20 cervical (neck) vertebrae; 8th and 9th have articulations permitting sharp S-bend, especially in anhingas. Pelvic girdle not reduced, legs strong. Feet large, fully webbed. Eggs thick shelled, with chalky white outer layer. Young naked at hatching.

    • Family Pelecanidae (pelicans)

      Very large (50–72 inches or 127–180 cm long). Plumage white, brown, or gray; some species crested. Wings long, broad; tail short. Sexes similar. Bill long, hooked at tip, with enormous gular pouch suspended from highly distensible rami (lateral elements) of lower mandible. Nostrils almost closed. Furcula fused with sternum. Down of nestlings white. 1 genus, Pelecanus; 8 species; seacoasts and freshwater lakes of southern Africa, central and eastern Eurasia, Australia, and North America; north and west coasts of South America.

    • Family Sulidae (boobies)

      Large (26–40 inches or 66–102 cm long). Plumage of most species white with black on wings; some brown and white; juveniles largely gray or gray-brown. Wings long and narrow, tail rather long, wedge-shaped. Sexes generally differ in voice, sometimes in colour of bare skin. Bill stout, conical, slightly decurved near the tip and finely serrated on cutting edges. Nostrils closed. Down of nestlings white. 3 genera, 10 living species, widespread but irregular distribution, on seacoasts and oceanic islands.

    • Family Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants)

      Medium to large (19–40 inches or 48–102 cm long). Plumage usually blackish; some with white underparts, and a few largely gray; some species have ornamental crests or patches of white when breeding. Wings broad, tail long and stiff. Sexes similar, but females up to 30 percent lighter in weight. Bill slender, sharply hooked at tip. Nostrils closed in adults. Bony occipital style projecting upward from back of skull. Down of nestlings dark. At least 1 genus, about 40 species.

    • Family Anhingidae (anhingas or darters)

      Large (34–36 inches or 86–91 cm long). Plumage mainly black and brown with pale markings on back and wings; breeding male has light-coloured plumes on head and neck. Tail very long and stiff. In some forms the sexes differ in colour. Bill long, straight, slender, sharply pointed; cutting edges serrated toward tip. Nostrils closed in adults. Occipital style smaller than in cormorants. Head small, neck long and slender. Legs short but strong. Pyloric lobe of stomach with mat of hairlike processes. Down of nestlings brown. 1 extant genus, Anhinga; 2 species. 5 fossil species, in the genera Protoplotus (the earliest from the Eocene of Sumatra), and Anhinga.

Critical appraisal

Ornithologists continue to debate whether the order Pelecaniformes is a natural evolutionary unit, since the unifying characters, such as the totipalmate foot, may have arisen through convergent evolution. In particular, the tropic birds (Phaethontes) differ in many ways from the other members of the order Pelecaniformes and may well be wrongly placed in this order. They are united to the others primarily by the totipalmate condition, but the first toe in Phaethontes is distinctly more elevated on the tarsometatarsus than in the other groups. Some of the resemblances of the Phaethontes to the Laridae (gulls and terns) in the order Charadriiformes may not result from evolutionary convergence but may indicate that the Phaethontes arose from forms more closely related to the basal stock of the Laridae than to that of the Pelecaniformes.

The frigate birds (Fregatae) are generally treated as a distinct suborder, on the basis of a number of morphological characters that they share with members of the order Procellariiformes but not with the Pelecani.

There is little doubt that the suborder Pelecani is made up of closely related groups. The pelicans are sometimes placed in a separate superfamily, but it is more useful to emphasize the similarities among the modern groups by keeping them together. The anhingas have sometimes been treated as a subfamily of the Phalacrocoracidae, but their morphological and ecological differences from cormorants perhaps justify separation at the family level.