PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Ixobrychus (Least bittern)

Reptilia - Pelecaniformes - Ardeidae

Taxonomy

Ixobrychus was named by Billberg (1828). It is extant. It was considered unknown by Emslie (1998).

It was assigned to Botaurinae by Wetmore (1956); and to Ardeidae by Emslie (1992), Emslie (1998), del Hoyo et al. (2014) and Clements et al. (2017).

Species

I. cinnamomeus, I. dubius, I. eurhythmus, I. exilis, I. flavicollis, I. involucris, I. minutus, I. novaezelandiae, I. sinensis, I. sturmii

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1828	Ixobrychus Billberg
1956	Ixobrychus Wetmore p. 21
1992	Ixobrychus Emslie p. 252
1998	Ixobrychus Emslie
2014	Ixobrychus del Hoyo et al.
2017	Ixobrychus Clements et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda

Rank	Name	Author
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
—	Averostra	Paul 2002
—	Tetanurae
—	Coelurosauria	()
—	Maniraptora
—	Paraves
class	Aves
subclass	Neornithes	Gadow 1893
—	Aequornithes
—	Feraequornithes
superorder	Pelecanimorphae	Huxley 1867
order	Pelecaniformes	Sharpe 1891
family	Ardeidae	Leach 1820
genus	Ixobrychus	Billberg 1828

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Ixobrychus Billberg 1828 [Least bittern]

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Ixobrychus cinnamomeus Gmelin 1789 [Cinnamon bittern]

Ixobrychus dubius Matthews 1912 [Australian little bittern]

Ixobrychus eurhythmus Swinhoe 1873 [Schrenck's bittern]

Ixobrychus exilis Gmelin 1789 [least bittern]

Ixobrychus flavicollis Latham 1790 [Black bittern]

Ixobrychus involucris Vieillot 1823 [Stripe-backed bittern]

Ixobrychus minutus Linnaeus 1766 [Common little bittern]

Ixobrychus novaezelandiae Potts 1871 [New Zealand little bittern]

Ixobrychus sinensis Gmelin 1789 [Yellow bittern]

Ixobrychus sturmii Wagler 1827 [Dwarf bittern]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

solitaryo

Environment:

terrestrialf

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

volantf

Diet:

piscivoref

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2009-01-03 16:51:50

Modified:

2009-01-03 18:51:50

Source: f = family, o = order

References: Thiollay 1994, Marsh 1875

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Gelasian to the top of the Holocene or 2.58800 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 1.806 Ma

Collections (5 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Blancan	4.9 - 1.8	USA (Florida)	Ixobrychus exilis (19753)
Gelasian	2.588 - 1.806	USA (Florida)	Ixobrychus exilis (20384)
Rancholabrean	0.3 - 0.012	USA (Florida)	Ixobrychus exilis (20398)
Late/Upper Pleistocene - Holocene	0.129 - 0.0	Bahamas (San Salvador)	Ixobrychus exilis (190743)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Portugal	Ixobrychus minutus (215367)