Leptoptilos

Taxobox
name = "Leptoptilos"
fossil_range = Late Miocene to Recent

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Marabou Stork, "Leptoptilos crumeniferus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Ciconiiformes
familia = Ciconiidae
genus = " Leptoptilos "
genus_authority = Lesson, 1831
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "L. javanicus"
"L. dubius "
"L. crumeniferus "
synonyms ="Cryptociconia"

"Leptoptilos" is a genus of very large tropical storks. Two species are resident breeders in southern Asia, and the Marabou Stork is found in sub-Saharan Africa.

These are huge birds, typically 110-150 cm tall with a 210- 250 cm wingspan. The three species each have a black upper body and wings, and white belly and undertail. The head and neck are bare like those of a vulture. The huge bill is long and thick. Juveniles are a duller, browner version of the adult.

"Leptoptilos" storks are gregarious colonial breeders in wetlands, building large stick nests in trees. They feed on frogs, insects, young birds, lizards and rodents. They are frequent scavengers, and the naked head and neck are adaptations to this, as it is with the vultures with which they often feed.

In each case, a feathered head would become rapidly clotted with blood and other substances when the bird's head was inside a large corpse, and the bare head is easier to keep clean.

Most storks fly with neck outstretched, but the three "Leptoptilos" storks retract their necks in flight like a heron.

pecies

*Lesser Adjutant, "Leptoptilos javanicus"
*Greater Adjutant, " Leptoptilos dubius "
*Marabou Stork, "Leptoptilos crumeniferus "

There is an ample fossil record of this genus. "L. titan", which was hunted by prehistoric humans, was truly gigantic, and "L. falconeri" possibly was one of the most widespread storks worldwide during the Pliocene:

*"Leptoptilos richae" (Beglia Late Miocene of Bled ed Douarah, Tunisia, and Wadi Moghara, Egypt?)
*"Leptoptilos" sp. (Ngorora Late Miocene of Baringo District, Kenya: Louchart "et al." 2005)
*"Leptoptilos falconeri" (Early - Late Pliocene of S Asia and E Africa)
*"Leptoptilos pliocenicus" (Early Pliocene of Odessa, Ukraine and Urugus, Ethiopia - Late Pliocene of Koro Toro, Chad and Olduvai, Tanzania) - includes "L." cf. "falconeri", may be the same as "L. falconeri"
*"Leptoptilos indicus" (Late Pliocene of Siwalik, India) - formerly "Cryptociconia indica", may be the same as "L. falconeri" (Louchart "et al." 2005)
*"Leptoptilos titan" (Notopuro Middle/Late Pleistocene of Watualang, Java)

"Leptoptilos" siwalicensis" from the Siwalik deposits (Late Miocene? - Late Pliocene) may belong into this genus, or to a closely related one (Louchart "et al." 2005).

References

* Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol, Inskipp, Tim & Byers, Clive (1999): "Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives". Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.. ISBN 0-691-04910-6

* Louchart, Antoine; Vignaud, Patrick; Likius, Andossa; Brunet, Michel & and White, Tim D. (2005): A large extinct marabou stork in African Pliocene hominid sites, and a review of the fossil species of "Leptoptilos". "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" 50(3): 549–563. [http://www.app.pan.pl/acta50/app50-549.pdf PDF fulltext]