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Gaviiformes

Gaviidae

Loons

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taxon links [up-->]Gavia stellata [up-->]Gavia arctica [up-->]Gavia pacifica [up-->]Gavia immer [down<--]Neoaves 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.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

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Relationships after Boertmann 1990

Containing group: Neoaves

References

Boertmann, D. 1990. Phylogeny of the divers, family Gaviidae (Aves). Steenstrupia 16:21-36.

Carboneras, C. 1992. Family Gaviidae (Divers). In: del Hoyo J., Elliott A., Sargatal J. (eds) Handbook of the birds of the world, vol 1Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp 162–172.

Cracraft, J. 1982. Phylogenetic relationships and monophyly of loons, grebes, and hesperornithiform birds, with comments on the early history of birds. Syst. Zool. 31:35-56.

Johnsgard, P. A. 1987. Diving Birds of North America. Nebraska Univ. Press, Omaha, Nebraska.

Cracraft, J. 1982. Phylogenetic relationships and monophyly of loons, grebes, and hesperornithiform birds, with comments on the early history of birds. Syst. Zool. 31:35-56.

Gill, F. and M. Wright. 2006. Birds of the World: Recommended English Names. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Johnsgard, P. A. 1987. Diving Birds of North America. Nebraska Univ. Press, Omaha, Nebraska.

Mayr, G. 2004. A partial skeleton of a new fossil loon (Aves, Gaviiformes) from the early Oligocene of Germany with preserved stomach content. Journal of Ornithology 145(4):281-286.

McKitrick, M. C. 1991. Forelimb myology of loons (Gaviiformes), with comments on the relationship of loons and tubenoses (Procellariiformes). Zool. J. Linnean Soc. 102:115-152.

Roselaar, C. S., T. G. Tineke, M. Aliabadian, and V. Nijman. 2006. Hybrids in divers (Gaviiformes). Journal of Ornithology 147(1):24-30.

Information on the Internet

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 Gavia stellata
Location Kodiak NWR, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA
Creator Dave Menke
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Collection U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Online Digital Media Library
Scientific Name Gavia immer
Location Logan Lake, Longford Township, Ontario, Canada
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Common Loon
Source Collection Flickr
ToL Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2005 Matthew
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Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 2007. Gaviiformes. Gaviidae. Loons. Version 18 April 2007 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Gaviidae/26386/2007.04.18 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

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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