Scientific classification

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BLACK STORK (BS)

Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Aves > Order: Ciconiiformes > Family: Ciconiidae > Genus: Ciconia > Species: Ciconia nigra

Scientific classification
- class: Aves (birds)
- order: Ciconiiformes (wading birds)
- family: Ciconiidae (6 families/groups)
- genus: Ciconia (8 genera/groups)
- species: Ciconia nigra

- In Europe they are white storks (Ciconia ciconia) and black storks (Ciconia nigra), they are different (!) species

- The black stork was long thought to be most closely related to the white stork (C. ciconia). However, genetic analysis via DNA–DNA hybridization and mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA by Beth Slikas in 1997 found that it was basal (an early offshoot) in the genus Ciconia.

- To the European white stork (C. ciconia) is closely related and resembles the oriental stork (Ciconia boyciana), of which it was formerly often treated as a subspecies (current classification: species Ciconia ciconia - subspecies Ciconia ciconia ciconia/the european white stork and Ciconia ciconia asiatica)

Slikas B. (1997). Phylogeny of the avian family Ciconiidae (storks) based on cytochrome b sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization distances. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 8(3), 275–300. https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.1997.0431

Liu, M., Kang, C., Yan, C., Huang, T., Song, X., Zhang, X., … Zeng, T. (2014). Phylogenetic analysis of the Black Stork Ciconia nigra (Ciconiiformes: Ciconiidae) based on complete mitochondrial genome. Mitochondrial DNA Part A, 27(1), 261–262. https://doi.org/10.3109/19401736.2014.883616


added 03.12.2024

Storks are distributed in 20 species (6 genera) across large parts of the Old and New Worlds as well as in the Indo-Australian region. Only three species also occur in temperate zones, all others are purely tropical birds. After being taxonomically grouped together with other wading birds, such as herons (Ardeidae) and ibises/spoonbills (Threskiornithidae) in the order Ciconiiformes for many years, recent phylogenetic studies have shown that these species can be split into three orders, namely the Suliformes (gannets, cormorants, etc.), the Pelecaniformes (copepods and wading birds) and - as an independent order with only one family - the Ciconiiformes (storks) (Ericson et al. 2006; Winkler et al. 2015).
(Lantermann, W. (2021). Ordnung: Ciconiiformes – Störche. In: Lantermann, W., Asmus, J. (eds) Wildvogelhaltung. Springer Spektrum, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-59604-3_41)

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