Phaethontiformes

Belongs within: Neognathae.

The Phaethontiformes include the modern tropicbirds (Phaethon) and their fossil relatives. They are united as a clade by the presence of a very large dorsal tympanic recess (Mayr 2009).

Modern tropicbirds are pelagic plunge-diving birds with predominantly white plumage, much reduced legs and the central two tail feathers extended into an elongate train. Despite their marine lifestyle, they are poor swimmers and quickly return to the air after capturing their prey. Three living species are recognised with the white-tailed tropicbird Phaethon lepturus having a yellow bill in contrast to the red bill of the red-biled tropicbird P. aethereus and red-tailed tropicbird P. rubricauda. The last species has red tail-streamers whereas the other two species have a white tail.

The fossil record of Phaethontidae potentially goes back to the Palaeogene. The related Prophaethontidae are recorded from the Palaeocene of North America and the Eocene of Europe. Prophaethontids appear likely to have been better divers and swimmers than their living relatives. Prophaethon shrubsolei, from the early Eocene London Clay, is represented by a nearly complete skull,  pelvis, pectoral girdle and part of the hindlimbs (Mayr 2009).

<==Phaethontiformes [Phaethontes]
    |  i. s.: Proplegadis Harrison & Walker 1971M09, M02
    |           `--*P. fisheri Harrison & Walker 1971M02
    |--ProphaethontidaeCC10
    |    |--Lithoptila abdounensis Bourdon et al. 2005M09
    |    |--Zhylgaia aestiflua Nessov 1988M09
    |    `--Prophaethon Andrews 1899M02
    |         `--*P. shrubsolei Andrews 1899M02
    `--PhaethontidaeBKB15
         |--Phaethusavis pelagicus Bourdon et al. 2008M09
         |--Heliadornis Olson 1985M02
         |    |--*H. ashbyi Olson 1985M02
         |    `--H. paratethydicus Mlíkovský 1997M02
         `--Phaethon Linnaeus 1758 (see below for synonymy)CC10
              |  i. s.: P. candidusS66
              |         P. demersus Linnaeus 1758L58
              |         P. flavirostris Brandt 1837PB96
              |--P. lepturus Daudin in Buffon 1802BKB15, CC10 [incl. *Lepturus edwardsiiCC10]
              |    |--P. l. lepturusCC10
              |    |--P. l. ascensionis (Mathews 1915)CC10
              |    |--P. l. catesbyi Brandt 1838CC10
              |    |--P. l. dorotheae Mathews 1913 [=*Leptophaethon lepturus dorotheae]CC10
              |    |--P. l. europae Le Corre & Jouventin 1999CC10
              |    `--P. l. fulvus Brandt 1838CC10
              `--+--*P. aethereus Linnaeus 1758CC10, BKB15, CS77
                 |    |--P. a. aethereusCS77
                 |    |--P. a. indicus Hume 1876CS77
                 |    `--P. a. mesonauta Peters 1930CS77
                 `--P. rubricauda Boddaert 1783BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)

Phaethon Linnaeus 1758 [=Phaeton Linnaeus 1766; incl. Leptophaethon Mathews 1913, Lepturus Reichenbach 1853 non Brisson 1760, Phoenicurus Bonaparte 1857 nec Forster 1817 nec Rudolphi 1819, Scaeophaethon Mathews 1913]^CC10

Phaethon rubricauda Boddaert 1783^{BKB15, CC10} [=Phaeton rubricauda^CC10, Phaethon rubricaudus^CC10, *Phoenicurus rubricauda^CC10; incl. Phaethon rubricauda erubescens Rothschild 1900 non Phaeton erubescens Gray 1844^CC10, Phaethon novaehollandiae Brandt 1840^CC10, Phaethon rubricauda novaehollandiae^CC10, Scaeophaethon rubricauda novaehollandiae^CC10, Phaeton phoenicuros Gmelin 1789^CC10, Phaeton phoenicurus^CC10, Scaeophaethon rubricauda roseotincta Mathews 1926^CC10, Phaethon rubricauda roseotincta^CC10, Phaethon rubricauda westralis Mathews 1912^WS48, *Scaeophaethon westralis^CC10]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis revised 10th ed. vol. 1. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[PB96] Palma, R. L., & S. C. Barker. 1996. Phthiraptera. In: Wells, A. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 26. Psocoptera, Phthiraptera, Thysanoptera pp. 81–247. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[S66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.