Otis is a genus of bustard containing a single living species, the great bustard (Otis tarda).[1]

Otis
Temporal range: Miocene - Recent
Great bustard (Otis tarda)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Otidiformes
Family: Otididae
Genus: Otis
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

Several extinct species are known, including the recently described Otis hellenica from the Turolian of Greece. At 19 kg (42 lb), it was larger than its extant relative.[2]

Taxonomy edit

The genus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae;[3] it came from the Greek name ὠτίς ōtis[4][5] taken from Natural History by Pliny the Elder published around 77 AD which briefly mentions a bird like it. These names were further mentioned by Pierre Belon in 1555 and Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1600.[6][7]

Linnaeus placed four species in the genus, but the type species was designated as the great bustard (Otis tarda) by George Robert Gray in 1840.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2023). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  2. ^ Boev, Z.N. (2013). "Otis hellenica sp. nov., a new Turolian bustard (Aves: Otididae) from Kryopigi (Chalkidiki, Greece)". Geologica Balcanica. 42 (1–3): 59–65. doi:10.52321/GeolBalc.42.1-3.59. S2CID 246377339.
  3. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 154.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, UK: Christopher Helm. p. 286. ISBN 978-1-4081-3326-2. OCLC 659731768.
  5. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). "ὠτίς". A Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library.
  6. ^ Belon, Pierre (1555). L'histoire de la natvre des oyseavx : avec levrs descriptions, & naïfs portraicts retirez du natvrel, escrite en sept livres (in French). Paris: Gilles Corrozet. pp. 235–237.
  7. ^ Aldrovandi, Ulisse (1637) [1600]. Vlyssis Aldrovandi philosophi ac medici Bononiensis historiam naturalem in gymnasio Bononiensi profitentis, Ornithologiae (in Latin). Vol. 2. Bononiae (Bologna, Italy): Apud Nicolaum Tebaldinum. p. 85.
  8. ^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 64.