{{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{About|the seabird}} {{pp-semi-indef}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Miocene (Langhian) – recent<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sula Brisson 1760 (booby) |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36639&is_real_user=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808171040/https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36639&is_real_user=1 |archive-date=2021-08-08 |access-date=2019-07-08 |website=PBDB}}</ref> | image = Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii) -one leg raised.jpg | image_caption = Blue-footed booby displaying by raising a foot | taxon = Sula | authority = Brisson, 1760 | type_species = ''Pelecanus leucogaster'' | type_species_authority = Boddaert, 1783 | subdivision_ranks = Species }}
A '''booby''' is a seabird in the genus '''''Sula''''', part of the family Sulidae. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (''Morus''), which were formerly included in ''Sula''.
==Systematics and evolution== The genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brisson |first=Mathurin Jacques |author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson |title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés |publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche |year=1760 |volume=1 |location=Paris |at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010460 Vol. 1 p. 60], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36211468 Vol. 6 p.494] |language=French, Latin}}</ref> The type species is the brown booby.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108821 |title=Check-list of Birds of the World |publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology |year=1979 |editor-last=Mayr |editor-first=Ernst |editor-link=Ernst Mayr |edition=2nd |volume=1 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=181 |access-date=2017-11-21 |editor-last2=Cottrell |editor-first2=G. William |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808171006/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108821 |archive-date=2021-08-08 |url-status=live}}</ref> The name is derived from ''súla'', the Old Norse and Icelandic word for the other member of the family Sulidae, the gannet.<ref>{{Cite OED | Sula, n. | id=193748}}</ref>
The English name ''booby'' may derive from the Spanish slang term {{lang|es|bobo}}, meaning "stupid",<ref>{{Cite OED | booby, n. | id=21393}}</ref> as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten. Owing to this, boobies are often mentioned as having been caught and eaten by shipwrecked sailors, including William Bligh of the ''Bounty'' and his adherents during their voyage after being set adrift by Fletcher Christian and his followers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Caroline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCA7gtcE0b0C |title=The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty |date=25 May 2004 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-200469-2}}</ref>
Six of the ten extant Sulidae species called ''boobies'' are in the genus ''Sula'', while the three gannet species are usually placed in the genus ''Morus''.<ref name="Friesen">{{Cite journal |last=Friesen |first=V. L. |last2=Anderson |first2=D. J. |last3=Steeves |first3=T.E. |last4=Jones |first4=H. |last5=Schreiber |first5=E.A. |year=2002 |title=Molecular support for species status of the Nazca Booby |journal=The Auk |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=820–826 |doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0820:MSFSSO]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=82903466}}</ref> Abbott's booby was formerly included in ''Sula'' but is now placed in a monotypic genus ''Papasula'', which represents an ancient lineage perhaps closer to ''Morus''. Some authorities consider that all ten species should be considered congeneric in ''Sula''. However, they are readily distinguished by means of osteology. The distinct lineages of gannets and boobies are known to have existed in such form, since at least the Middle Miocene ({{val|15|ul=mya}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Storrs L. |author-link=Storrs L. Olson |title=Avian Biology |date=1985 |publisher=Academic Press |editor-last=Farner |editor-first=D.S. |volume=8 |location=New York |pages=79–238 [203–204] |chapter=The Fossil Record of Birds (Section X.G.5.a ''Sulidae'') |hdl=10088/6553 |access-date=2017-11-22 |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=D.S. |editor-last3=Parkes |editor-first3=K.C. |chapter-url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/6553 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410015830/https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/6553 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The fossil record of boobies is not as well documented as that of gannets, either because booby speciation was lower from the late Miocene to the Pliocene (when gannet diversity was at its highest), or because the booby fossil species record is as yet incomplete due to most localities being equatorial or in the Southern Hemisphere.
The following cladogram is based on a study by S.A. Patterson and collaborators that was published in 2011.<ref name="patterson2100">{{Cite journal |last=Patterson |first=S.A. |last2=Morris-Pocock |first2=J.A. |last3=Friesen |first3=V.L |year=2011 |title=A multilocus phylogeny of the Sulidae (Aves: Pelecaniformes) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=181–191 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.021 }}</ref> {{Clade | style=font-size: 100%; line-height: 100%; |label1='''''Sula''''' |1={{clade |1=Red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') |2=Cocos booby (''Sula brewsteri'') }} |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Masked booby (''Sula dactylatra'') |2=Nazca booby (''Sula granti'') }} |2={{Clade |1=Blue-footed booby (''Sula nebouxii'') |2=Peruvian booby (''Sula variegata'') }} }} }} }} }}
==Behaviour== {{See also|Seabird breeding behavior#Mating dances}}
Boobies hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. Facial air sacs under their skin cushion the impact with the water. Boobies are colonial breeders on islands and coasts. They normally lay one or more chalky-blue eggs on the ground or sometimes in a tree nest. Selective pressures, likely through competition for resource, have shaped the ecomorphology and foraging behaviours of the six species of boobies in the Pacific.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=van Oordt, F. |last2=Torres-Mura, J. C. |last3=Hertel, F. |year=2018 |title=Ecomorphology and foraging behaviour of Pacific boobies |journal=Ibis |volume=160 |issue=2 |pages=313–326 |doi=10.1111/ibi.12545|hdl=20.500.14005/3968 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
==List of species== The genus contains seven species:<ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=5 April 2026 }}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |120px||Red-footed booby||''Sula sula''||120px |- |120px||Brown booby||''Sula leucogaster''||120px |- |120px||Cocos booby||''Sula brewsteri''||120px |- |120px||Nazca booby||''Sula granti''||120px |- |120px||Masked booby||''Sula dactylatra''||120px |- |120px||Peruvian booby||''Sula variegata''||120px |- |120px||Blue-footed booby||''Sula nebouxii''||120px |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Wikispecies-inline}}
{{Suliformes}} {{Suliformes Genera|S.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q612817}} {{Authority control}}
* Category:Taxa named by Mathurin Jacques Brisson