# Butorides > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Butorides > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Butorides.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butorides > Source revision: 1343709475 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Butorides'' | fossil_range = [Early Pleistocene](/source/Early_Pleistocene) to present | image = Butorides striata javanica @ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3).jpg | image_caption = [Little heron](/source/Little_heron) ''Butorides atricapilla'', Malaysia | taxon = Butorides | authority = [Blyth](/source/Edward_Blyth), 1852 | type_species = ''Ardea javanica'' = ''[Butorides atricapilla javanica](/source/Little_heron)'' | type_species_authority = [Horsfield](/source/Thomas_Horsfield), 1821 }} '''''Butorides''''' is a genus of small [heron](/source/heron)s. It contains four similar species, the [striated heron](/source/striated_heron) ''Butorides striata'', the [lava heron](/source/lava_heron) ''Butorides sundevalli'', the [green heron](/source/green_heron) ''Butorides virescens'' and the [little heron](/source/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](/source/Middle_English) ''Butor'' ("[bittern](/source/bittern)") and the [Ancient Greek](/source/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](/source/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 [egg](/source/egg_(biology))s. Both parents [incubate](/source/egg_incubation) for about 20 days until hatching, and feed the young birds, which take a further three weeks to [fledge](/source/fledge). They stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey. They mainly eat small fish, [frog](/source/frog)s and aquatic [insect](/source/insect)s. They are known to drop lures on the water surface to attract fish.{{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}} A [fossil](/source/fossil) species, ''Butorides validipes'', is known from the [Early Pleistocene](/source/Early_Pleistocene) of [Florida](/source/Florida) in the United States. ==Taxonomy== The genus ''Butorides'' was introduced in 1852 by the English zoologist [Edward Blyth](/source/Edward_Blyth) to accommodate a single species, ''Ardea javanica'' [Horsfield](/source/Thomas_Horsfield), which is therefore becomes the [type species](/source/type_species).{{ 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 }}{{ 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 }} ''Ardea javanica'' is now considered to be a subspecies of the [little heron](/source/little_heron) (''Butorides atricapill''). The genus name is combines the genus ''Butor'' introduced by [Thomas Forster](/source/Thomas_Ignatius_Maria_Forster) in 1827 for the bitterns with the [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) -οιδης/''-oidēs'' meaning "resembling". ''Butor'' is the [Middle English](/source/Middle_English) word for a bittern.{{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]}} Within the heron family [Ardeidae](/source/Ardeidae), ''Butorides'' is most closely related to the genus ''[Ardeola](/source/Ardeola)'' (pond herons).{{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=}} The ''Butorides'' herons were formerly considered a single species, the green-backed heron,{{ 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 }} but are now normally split, with the green heron breeding in eastern [North America](/source/North_America), [Central America](/source/Central_America), the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies) and the [Pacific](/source/Pacific) coast of [Canada](/source/Canada) and the United States, the striated heron in [South America](/source/South_America), and the [little heron](/source/little_heron) in the [Old World](/source/Old_World) tropics and warm temperate regions from west [Africa](/source/Africa) to [Japan](/source/Japan). A [molecular phylogenetic](/source/molecular_phylogenetic) study of the genus ''Butorides'', submitted as a master's thesis in 2023, found that the striated heron was [paraphyletic](/source/paraphyletic). To resolve the paraphyly, twenty [subspecies](/source/subspecies) of the striated heron were moved to a new species, the [little heron](/source/little_heron), making the striated heron a [monotypic](/source/monotypic) species restricted to South America.{{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 }}{{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 }} The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships between the species: {{Clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100% |label1='''''Butorides''''' |1={{clade |1=''Butorides atricapilla'' – [little heron](/source/little_heron) |2={{clade |1=''Butorides striata'' – [striated heron](/source/striated_heron) |2={{clade |1=''Butorides sundevalli'' – [lava heron](/source/lava_heron) |2=''Butorides virescens'' – [green heron](/source/green_heron) }} }} }} }} The genus contains four species: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |120px || [Little heron](/source/Little_heron) || ''Butorides atricapilla'' || [Old World](/source/Old_World) tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia |- | 120px|| [Striated heron](/source/Striated_heron) || ''Butorides striata'' || east Panama to north Argentina, Bolivia and Chile |- |120px || [Lava heron](/source/Lava_heron) || ''Butorides sundevalli'' || [Galápagos Islands](/source/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands) |- |120px || [Green heron](/source/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 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Butorides](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butorides) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butorides?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.