Microcarbo

Microcarbo
Little pied cormorant Microcarbo melanoleucos
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Pelecaniformes
Family:	Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:	Microcarbo Bonaparte, 1856
Species
See text

Microcarbo is a genus of fish-eating birds, known as cormorants, of the family Phalacrocoracidae. The genus was formerly subsumed within Phalacrocorax.

Microcarbo has been recognized as a valid genus by the IOC’s World Bird List (Gill and Donsker 2010) on the basis of work by Siegel-Causey (1988), Kennedy et al. (2000), and Christidis and Boles (2008).

As suggested by the name, this genus contains the smallest of the world's cormorants. Five living and one extinct species are recognized.

List of species

• Crowned cormorant, Microcarbo coronatus
• Little cormorant, Microcarbo niger
• Little pied cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos
• Pygmy cormorant, Microcarbo pygmeus
• Reed cormorant, Microcarbo africanus
• †Serventys' cormorant, Microcarbo serventyorum

Sources

• Christidis, L., and W. E. Boles. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.
• Gill, F., and D. Donsker (eds.). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (Version 2.4). Available at (Accessed 12 May 2010).
• Kennedy, M., R. D. Gray, and H. G. Spencer. 2000. The phylogenetic relationships of the shags and cormorants: can sequence data resolve a disagreement between behavior and morphology? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 17: 345-359.
• Siegel-Causey, D. 1988. Phylogeny of the Phalacrocoracidae. Condor 90: 885-905. Available at (Accessed 13 May 2010).