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Information about Aegothelidae

Owlet-nightjar
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Australian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles cristatus

Australian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles cristatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
(unranked)Cypselomorphae
Order:Aegotheliformes
Simonetta, 1967
Family:Aegothelidae
Genus:Aegotheles
Vigors & Horsfield, 1827


Owlet-nightjars are small nocturnal birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. There is a single monotypic family Aegothelidae with the genus Aegotheles.

Owlet-nightjars are insectivores which hunt mostly in the air but sometimes on the ground; their soft plumage is a crypic mixture of browns and paler shades, they have fairly small, weak feet (but larger and stronger than those of a frogmouth or a nightjar), a tiny bill that opens extraordinarily wide, surrounded by prominent whiskers. The wings are short, with 10 primaries and about 11 secondaries; the tail long and rounded.

Systematics

The comprehensive 2003 study by Dumbacher et al. analyzing mtDNA sequences Cytochrome b and ATPase subunit 8 suggests that 11 species of owlet-nightjar should be recognized, plus one that went extinct early in the second millennium AD.

The relationship between the owlet-nightjars and the (traditional) Caprimulgiformes has long been controversial and obscure and remains so today: in the 19th century they were regarded as a subfamily of the frogmouths, and they are still generally considered to be related to the frogmouths and/or the nightjars. It appears though that that they are not so closely related to either as previously thought, and that the owlet-nightjars share a more recent common ancestor with the Apodiformes (Mayr 2002). As has been suggested on occasion since morphological studies of the cranium in the 1960 (Simonetta 1967), they are thus considered a distinct order, Aegotheliformes. This, the caprimulgiform lineage(s), and the Apodiformes, are postulated to form a clade called Cypselomorphae.

In form and habits, however, they are very similar to both caprimulgiform group - or, at first glance, to small owls with huge eyes. Interestingly, the ancestors of the swifts and hummingbirds, two groups of birds which are morphologically very specialized, seem to have looked very similar to a small owlet-nightjar, possessing strong legs and a wide gape, while the legs and feet are very reduced in today's swifts and hummingbirds, and the bill is narrow in the latter.

They are an exclusively Australasian group, but close relatives apparently occurred all over Eurasia in the late Paleogene.

References

  • Dumbacher, John P. ; Pratt, Thane K. & Fleischer, Robert C. (2003): Phylogeny of the owlet-nightjars (Aves: Aegothelidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequence. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29(3): 540–549. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00135-0 PDF fulltext
  • Mayr, Gerald (2002): Osteological evidence for paraphyly of the avian order Caprimulgiformes (nightjars and allies). Journal für Ornithologie 143: 82–97. PDF fulltext
  • Simonetta, A. M. (1967): Cinesi e morfologia del cranio negli Ucelli non passeriformi. Studio su varie tendenze evolative. Part II – Striges, Caprimulgiformes ed Apodiformes. Archive Zoologico Italiano 52: 1–35.
A. cristatus

Binomial name
Aegotheles cristatus
(Shaw, 1790)

The Australian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles cristatus
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Cypselomorphae is a clade of birds including Apodiformes, Nyctibiidae, Caprimulgidae, and Aegothelidae.[1][2][3] Their shared derived features are: ossa maxillaria separated by a large cleft, a mandible with very short
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1964 1965 1966 - 1967 - 1968 1969 1970

Year 1967 (MCMLXVII
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Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – October 26, 1840) was an Irish zoologist and politician.

Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811.
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Thomas Horsfield, M. D., (1773–1859) was an American physician and naturalist. Horsfield was born in Philadelphia and studied medicine. He worked as a doctor in Java for many years.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1790s  1800s  1810s  - 1820s -  1830s  1840s  1850s
1824 1825 1826 - 1827 - 1828 1829 1830

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar. The intermediate crepuscular schedule (twilight activity) is also common.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Caprimulgidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera
  • Nyctiprogne
  • Podager
  • Lurocalis
  • Chordeiles
  • Nyctidromus
  • Phalaenoptilus
  • Siphonorhis
  • Nyctiphrynus
  • Caprimulgus

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Podargidae

Genera

Podargus
Batrachostomus
Rigidipenna

The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds related to the nightjars. They are found from India across southern Asia to Australia.
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New Guinea<nowiki />

Political division of New Guinea

Geography
<nowiki/>
Location Island north of Australian continent
Coordinates
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Maluku Islands<nowiki />

Maluku Islands location

Geography <nowiki/>
Location South East Asia
Coordinates <nowiki /> <nowiki />

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Anthem
La Marseillaise


Capital Nouméa
Largest city Nouméa
Official languages French
Government Overseas territory of France
 -  President of France Nicolas Sarkozy
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Monotypic is an adjective that refers to a taxonomic group with only one type:
  • in botany it means that a taxon has only one species; Ginkgo is a monotypic genus, while Ginkgoaceae is a monotypic family.

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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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insectivore is a carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures.

Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers and make up a very large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine environments.
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Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found in the cell nucleus. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA are thought to be of separate evolutionary origin, with the mtDNA being derived from the
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DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information.
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The coenzyme Q : cytochrome c — oxidoreductase, sometimes called the cytochrome bc1 complex, and at other times complex III, is the third complex in the electron transport chain (EC 1.10.2.
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ATPases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the decomposition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and a free phosphate ion. This dephosphorylation reaction releases energy, which the enzyme (in most cases) harnesses to drive other chemical reactions
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1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium On the Gregorian calendar, the 2nd millennium commenced on 1 January, 1001, and ended at the end of 31 December, 2000.
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Caprimulgiformes
Ridgway, 1881

Families

see text

The Caprimulgiformes is an order of birds that includes a number of birds with global distribution (except Antarctica). They are generally insectivorous and nocturnal.
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For the periodical, see .
The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
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Podargidae

Genera

Podargus
Batrachostomus
Rigidipenna

The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds related to the nightjars. They are found from India across southern Asia to Australia.
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