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Ardeidae

Herons

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taxon links [up-->]Dupetor flavicollis [up-->]Ardea [up-->]Ardeola [up-->]Butorides [up-->]Nycticorax [up-->]Zebrilus undulatus [up-->]Cochlearius cochlearius [up-->]Ixobrychus [up-->]Pilherodius pileatus [up-->]Tigrisoma [up-->]Bubulcus [up-->]Botaurus [up-->]Agamia agami [up-->]Nyctanassa violacea [up-->]Syrigma sibilatrix [up-->]Egretta [up-->]Gorsachius [down<--]Pelecaniformes Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

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You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

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Relationships after Sheldon 1987, Sheldon et al. 1995, and Sheldon et al. 2000.

Containing group: Pelecaniformes

Other Names for Ardeidae

References

Kushlan, J. A. and J. Hancock. 2005. The Herons: Ardeidae. Bird Families of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.

McCracken, K. G. and F. H. Sheldon. 1997. Avian vocalizations and phylogenetic signal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 94:3833-3836.

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

Sheldon, F. H. 1987. Phylogeny of herons estimated from DNA-DNA hybridization data. Auk 104:97-108.

Sheldon, F. H., C. E. Jones, and K. G. McCracken. 2000. Relative patterns and rates of evolution in heron nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:437-450.

Sheldon, F. H., K. G. McCracken, and K. D. Stuebing. 1995. Phylogenetic relationships of the zigzag heron (Zebrilus undulatus) and white-crested bittern (Tigriornis leucolophus) estimated by DNA-DNA hybridization. Auk 112(3):672-679.

Sheldon, F. H. and B. Slikas. 1997. Advances in Ciconiiform Systematics. Colonial Waterbirds 20(1):106-114.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Ardeola ralloides
Location Delta del Llobregat, Catalunya, Spain
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source MARTINET ROS
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2007 Andreu Anguera
Scientific Name Butorides striata
Location Sunset Dam, Lower Sabie, Kruger National Park, South Africa
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source A fish, My kingdom for a fish
Source Collection Flickr
Copyright © 2006 Callie de Wet
Scientific Name Egretta garzetta
Location Afurada, Gaia, Portugal
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Behavior flying
Source Garça branca / Little Egret
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2006 Isidro Vila Verde
About This Page

Page: Tree of Life Ardeidae. Herons. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 2008. Ardeidae. Herons. Version 27 June 2008 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Ardeidae/26331/2008.06.27 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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