[cobirds] Not just a new species for the Colorado checklist, but...

...also a new family!

The recent Limpkin discovery at Ramah State Wildlife Area by Karen Rau (thank you Karen!) is a big deal, not just because of the awesomeness of the species, but also since it will add the first member of the family Aramidae to the Colorado list.

Of course, this is also the *last* member of the family Aramidae to be added as well...since Aramidae is a monotypic family, meaning there is only one member altogether. Limpkins are currently thought to be distant relatives of cranes, but sufficiently unique to warrant being in their own family. Still, it is a new family for the Colorado list, and adding a new family to the CO checklist does not happen very often.

By my count (and someone please correct me if I'm mistaken), the most recent prior new family to be added to the Colorado list was Sulidae, when the belated report of a Brown Booby was made back in June 2016. Sulidae includes the boobies and gannets, which of course are a very unexpected grouping of birds for our deeply landlocked state.

Before that, it gets a little murky since family definitions and taxonomy can be a bit fluid over time, as well as dependent on which taxonomic authority stated what. Duane Nelson found a Black Skimmer in July 2001, but I'm unsure whether the family Rynchopidae was in existence at the time, or whether it had already been subsumed into the larger family of Laridae which includes the gulls and terns. Previous to that, I believe you then have to go all the way back to September 1985 when the first Magnificent Frigatebird was found in Colorado. Frigatebirds are members of the family Fregatidae, and so far the Magnificent is the only member of that family known to have occurred in the state.

Eric

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Eric DeFonso
Boulder County, CO

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