Ardeidae

Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus Botaurus are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus Zebrilus, form a monophyletic group, Botaurinae, within the Ardeidae family. Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks.

Ardeidae

MathKnight · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
heronPBDB
Sits inside
PelecaniformesPBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 4 of 237 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 237 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 25 of 237 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 237 occurrencesPleistocene — about 116 of 237 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 182 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

237 occurrences of Ardeidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

237 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

25 formations

Tamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WBannockburn — 44.91°S, 169.86°EOkeechobee — 27.53°N, 80.47°WGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EMaboko — 0.17°N, 34.62°EBridger — 42.13°N, 107.98°WBridger — 41.04°N, 110.23°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WBone Valley — 27.90°N, 81.80°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WAdu Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EHofuf — 25.98°N, 49.39°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WRio Turbio — 51.59°S, 72.37°WJebel Qatrani — 29.45°N, 30.58°ECaloosahatchee — 27.04°N, 81.82°WBorgloon — 50.85°N, 4.82°EAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°ELaguna de Tagua Tagua — 34.50°S, 71.17°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ardeidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 187 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ardeidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ardeidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,938 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 159 sites for Ardeidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

111 references

Each of the 237 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 99 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ardeidae

Credit
MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPelecaniformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leach 1820