{{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Butorides'' | fossil_range = Early Pleistocene to present | image = Butorides striata javanica @ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3).jpg | image_caption = Little heron ''Butorides atricapilla'', Malaysia | taxon = Butorides | authority = Blyth, 1852 | type_species = ''Ardea javanica'' = ''Butorides atricapilla javanica'' | type_species_authority = Horsfield, 1821 }}
'''''Butorides''''' is a genus of small herons. It contains four similar species, the striated heron ''Butorides striata'', the lava heron ''Butorides sundevalli'', the green heron ''Butorides virescens'' and the little heron ''Butorides atricapilla''. They are closely related, and some authorities have considered them all to be subspecies of just one species; when treated so, the merged species is called '''green-backed heron'''. The name ''Butorides'' derives from Middle English ''Butor'' ("bittern") and the Ancient Greek suffix ''-oides'', "resembling".
Adults of the extant species are among the smallest herons, ranging in length from {{convert|35|-|48|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=off}}, and have a dark grey to blackish back and wings (sometimes with greenish or bluish iridescence), a black cap, and short legs; the legs are yellow most of the year, but flush bright orange-red during pre-breeding courtship. The species have different underpart colours; white to grey or orange-buff in striated heron, and very dark grey in lava heron, and red-brown in green heron; in all, there is a line of white streaks running down the front of the throat and breast. The juveniles are browner above and extensively streaked below, and have greenish-yellow legs.
''Butorides'' herons breed in small wetlands, building a nest from platform of sticks, often in shrubs or trees, sometimes on the ground. The female lays three to five eggs. Both parents incubate for about 20 days until hatching, and feed the young birds, which take a further three weeks to fledge. They stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey. They mainly eat small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. They are known to drop lures on the water surface to attract fish.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=Dave |title=Green Heron (''Butorides virescens'') uses feather lure for fishing |journal=American Birds |date=1975 |volume=29 |pages=652–654 |url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/nab/v029n03/p00652-p00654.pdf |access-date=16 November 2024}}</ref>
A fossil species, ''Butorides validipes'', is known from the Early Pleistocene of Florida in the United States.
==Taxonomy== The genus ''Butorides'' was introduced in 1852 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth to accommodate a single species, ''Ardea javanica'' Horsfield, which is therefore becomes the type species.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Blyth | first=Edward | author-link=Edward Blyth | date=1849 | publication-date=1852 | title=Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum Asiatic Society | location=Calcutta | publisher= J. Thomas | page=281 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13500479 }} Although the title page is dated 1849, the book was not published until 1852. See: {{ cite book | last1=Dickinson | first1=E.C. | author1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | last2=Overstreet | first2=L.K. | last3=Dowsett | first3=R.J. | last4=Bruce | first4=M.D. | year=2011 | title=Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers | location=Northampton, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-1-5 | page=74 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267763194 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=215 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108855 }}</ref> ''Ardea javanica'' is now considered to be a subspecies of the little heron (''Butorides atricapill'').<ref name=ioc/> The genus name is combines the genus ''Butor'' introduced by Thomas Forster in 1827 for the bitterns with the Ancient Greek -οιδης/''-oidēs'' meaning "resembling". ''Butor'' is the Middle English word for a bittern.<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n81 81]}}</ref> Within the heron family Ardeidae, ''Butorides'' is most closely related to the genus ''Ardeola'' (pond herons).<ref name="Hruska">{{cite journal | last=Hruska | first=Jack P | last2=Holmes | first2=Jesse | last3=Oliveros | first3=Carl | last4=Shakya | first4=Subir | last5=Lavretsky | first5=Philip | last6=McCracken | first6=Kevin G | last7=Sheldon | first7=Frederick H | last8=Moyle | first8=Robert G | title=Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae) | journal=Ornithology | volume=140 | issue=2 | date=2023-05-08 | issn=0004-8038 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad005 | page=}}</ref>
The ''Butorides'' herons were formerly considered a single species, the green-backed heron,<ref name=hbw>{{ cite book | last1=Martínez-Vilalta | first1=A. | last2=Motis | first2=A. | year=1992 | chapter=Family Ardeida (Herons) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Cornel | volume=1: Ostrich to Ducks | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=84-87334-10-5 | pages=376–429 [417] | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/417/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref> but are now normally split, with the green heron breeding in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies and the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States, the striated heron in South America, and the little heron in the Old World tropics and warm temperate regions from west Africa to Japan.<ref name=ioc/>
A molecular phylogenetic study of the genus ''Butorides'', submitted as a master's thesis in 2023, found that the striated heron was paraphyletic. To resolve the paraphyly, twenty subspecies of the striated heron were moved to a new species, the little heron, making the striated heron a monotypic species restricted to South America.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pelicans/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=21 March 2025 }}</ref><ref name=mendales>{{Cite journal | last1=Mendales | first1=E. | last2=McCormack | first2=J. | last3=Castañeda Cepeda | first3=J.S. | last4=Dumbacher | first4=J.P. | last5=Chaves | first5=J.A. | date=2026 | title=Global phylogenetic relationships of ''Butorides'' herons (Aves: Ardeidae) reveal the evolutionary history and taxonomic status of the Galápagos Lava Heron | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | article-number=108600 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2026.108600 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships between the species:<ref name=ioc/><ref name=mendales/> {{Clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100% |label1='''''Butorides''''' |1={{clade |1=''Butorides atricapilla'' – little heron |2={{clade |1=''Butorides striata'' – striated heron |2={{clade |1=''Butorides sundevalli'' – lava heron |2=''Butorides virescens'' – green heron }} }} }} }}
The genus contains four species:<ref name=ioc/>
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |120px || Little heron || ''Butorides atricapilla'' || Old World tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia |- | 120px|| Striated heron || ''Butorides striata'' || east Panama to north Argentina, Bolivia and Chile |- |120px || Lava heron || ''Butorides sundevalli'' || Galápagos Islands |- |120px || Green heron ||''Butorides virescens'' || USA south to Panama |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Pelecaniformes genera|A.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q132906}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Butorides Category:Bird genera Category:Herons Category:Extant Pleistocene first appearances Category:Taxa named by Edward Blyth