Grus (bird)
Genus of birds
title: "Grus (bird)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["grus-(bird)", "bird-genera"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/grus-bird" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grus_(bird)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of birds ::
| image = Common crane grus grus.jpg | image_upright = 1.2 | image_caption = Common crane (Grus grus) | taxon = Grus | authority = Brisson, 1760 | type_species = Ardea grus | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text | synonyms = *Bugeranus
- Anthropoides
Grus is a genus of large birds in the crane family.
The genus Grus erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The name Grus is the Latin word for "crane". The German ornithologist Peter Simon Pallas was sometimes credited with erecting the genus in 1766 but the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled in 1956 that Brisson should have priority.
The genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that the genus Grus, as then defined, was polyphyletic. In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the sandhill crane, the white-naped crane, the sarus crane and the brolga were moved to the resurrected genus Antigone that had been erected by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. The Siberian crane was moved to the resurrected monotypic genus Leucogeranus.
Species
The genus contains eight living species: ::data[format=table]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Bugeranus carunculatus -Dallas Zoo, Texas, USA-8 (1).jpg | 200px]] | Grus carunculata | Wattled crane |
| [[File:Anthropoides paradiseus (male, Etosha).jpg | 200px]] | Grus paradisea | Blue crane |
| [[File:Grue Demoiselle 0001.jpg | 200px]] | Grus virgo | Demoiselle crane |
| [[File:Mandschurenkranich.jpg | 200px]] | Grus japonensis | Red-crowned crane |
| [[File:Grus americana Sasata.jpg | 200px]] | Grus americana | Whooping crane |
| [[File:Common crane grus grus.jpg | 200px]] | Grus grus | Common crane |
| [[File:Grus monacha Phila Zoo.jpg | 200px]] | Grus monacha | Hooded crane |
| [[File:Grus nigricollis -Bronx Zoo-8-3c.jpg | 200px]] | Grus nigricollis | Black-necked crane |
| :: |
The HBW/BirdLife and Clements checklists place the demoiselle crane and blue crane in the genus Anthropoides, and the wattled crane in the monospecific genus Bugeranus, leaving only the red-crowned, whooping, common, hooded, and black-necked cranes in the genus Grus.
The Cuban flightless crane (Antigone cubensis), which became extinct in the Pleistocene, was formerly assigned to the genus Grus.
Fossil record
The fossil record of the genus stretches back some 12 million years or so. A considerable number of prehistoric species are known, with the oldest, Grus miocaenicus (Middle Miocene of Credinţa, Romania) perhaps not a crane but a junior synonym of the swimming-flamingo Palaelodus ambiguus; ("Grus" problematica certainly is). The Late Pleistocene Mediterranean Grus primigenia was hunted by Stone Age humans.
- Grus afghana (Late Miocene of Molayan, Afghanistan) - doubtfully distinct from G. penteleci
- Grus sp. 1 (Late Miocene of Love Bone Bed, USA)
- Grus sp. 2 (Late Miocene of Love Bone Bed, USA)
- Grus cf. antigone (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA)
- Grus nannodes (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene -? Edson Middle Pliocene of Sherman County, USA)
- Grus sp. (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA)
- Grus haydeni (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene - Pleistocene? of WC USA) - 2 species, one may be same as G. canadensis
- Grus penteleci (Late Miocene - Early Pliocene of C and SE Europe) - formerly in Pliogrus
- Grus sp. (Late Pliocene of Puebla de Valverde, Spain)
- Grus bogatshevi (Late Pleistocene of Azerbaijan) - doubtfully distinct form G. primigenia
- Grus latipes (Shore Hills Late Pleistocene of Bermuda, W Atlantic) - formerly Baeopteryx
- Maltese crane Grus melitensis (Late Pleistocene of Malta) - doubtfully distinct from G. primigenia
- Grus pagei (Late Pleistocene of Rancho La Brea)
- Grus primigenia (Late Pleistocene? of SW Europe)
- Grus cubensis (Pleistocene and Holocene of Cuba)
Several other fossil gruiforms are now considered not to belong here. "Grus" prentici is now in Paragrus, "Grus" princeps, "Grus" excelsa and "Grus" hordwellianus are placed in Palaeogrus, and "Grus" excelsa in Balearica. "Grus" marshi belongs in Aletornis.
More uncertain is the position of Probalearica (variously considered Late Oligocene to Middle Pliocene but probably Late Miocene) from Golboçica (Moldavia) and maybe elsewhere. It is usually regarded a nomen dubium but might belong into Grus. "Grus" conferta (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Contra Costa County, USA) is apparently too different from the modern genus to be placed herein, but its affiliations are not well resolved.
References
References
- Brisson, Mathurin Jacques. (1760). "Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés". Jean-Baptiste Bauche.
- Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
- (1934). "Check-list of Birds of the World". Harvard University Press.
- (1956). "Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature". International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.
- (2010). "Mitochondrial genome sequences and the phylogeny of cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae)". Auk.
- (December 2023). "Finfoots, flufftails, rails, trumpeters, cranes, Limpkin". International Ornithologists' Union.
- Reichenbach, Ludwig. (1853). "Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie". Friedrich Hofmeister.
- (2017). "Demoiselle Crane (''Anthropoides virgo'')". Lynx Edicions.
- (2017). "Blue Crane (''Anthropoides paradiseus'')". Lynx Edicions.
- (2017). "Wattled Crane (''Bugeranus carunculatus'')". Lynx Edicions.
- (2017). "The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017".
- Olson, Storrs L.. (1978). "Zoogeography in the Caribbean: The 1975 Leidy Medal Symposium". Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
- William Suárez. (2020). "The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba". Zootaxa.
- (2022). "Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7". HBW and BirdLife International.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::