New Zealand king shag

The New Zealand king shag (Leucocarbo carunculatus), also known as the rough-faced shag, king shag or kawau, is a rare bird endemic to New Zealand. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place this species in the genus Leucocarbo. Others place it in the genus Phalacrocorax.

For the species from South America, Antarctica and southern ocean islands that sometimes is known as the king shag, see imperial shag.

New Zealand king shag
New Zealand king shags
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genus: Leucocarbo
Species:
L. carunculatus
Binomial name
Leucocarbo carunculatus
(Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms

Phalacrocorax carunculatus

Taxonomy

The New Zealand king shag was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Pelecanus and coined the binomial name Pelecanus carunculatus.[2] Gmelin based his description on the "carunculated shag" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds . Latham had based his description on a specimen in the Leverian Museum.[3] The New Zealand king shag is now one of 16 species placed in the genus Leucocarbo that was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[4][5] The name Leucocarbo combines the Ancient Greek leukos meaning "white" with the genus name Carbo introduced by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. The specific epithet is from Latin caruncula meaning "small piece of flesh".[6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5]

Description
Watercolour by Georg Forster who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage
Image of Male New Zealand king shag from the collection of Auckland Museum
Male New Zealand king shag from the collection of Auckland Museum

It is a large (76 cm long, 2.5 kg in weight) black and white cormorant with pink feet. White patches on the wings appear as bars when the wings are folded. Yellow-orange swellings (caruncles) are found above the base of the bill. The grey gular pouch is reddish in the breeding season. A blue eye-ring indicates its kinship with the other blue-eyed shags.[7]

Distribution and habitat

New Zealand king shags can be seen from the Cook Strait ferries in Queen Charlotte Sound opposite the beginning of the Tory Channel. They live in the coastal waters of the Marlborough Sounds where they are known to breed only on rocky islets at four small sites.[8]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2018). "Leucocarbo carunculatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22696846A133555760. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696846A133555760.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 576.
  3. Latham, John (1785). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 3, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 603.
  4. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1856). "Excusion dans les divers Musées d'Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique, et tableaux paralléliques de l'ordre des échassiers (suite)". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 43: 571–579 [575].
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Storks, frigatebirds, boobies, darters, cormorants". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  6. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 223, 92. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. Schuckard, R. (2017). "New Zealand king shag". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  8. "Species factsheet: Leucocarbo carunculatus". www.birdlife.org. BirdLife International. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
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