This order is represented by the Ciconiidae (storks). Beside outdated DNA-DNA hybridisation distances, the only molecular study is limitexd to mitochondrial cytochrome B genes (Slikas, 1997). The sparse data do not allow a reliable reconstruction of intrinsic stork relationships.
Species-level phylogeny of extant Ciconiiformes according to the results of Slikas (1997), with the distribution of each family being indicated by the colour-code used throughout this website (see Distribution code).
References/Literature
Liang WL, Zhou J, and Ren ZM (2019), Complete mitochondrial genome of Ciconia nigra (Ciconiiformes: Ciconiidae), a threatened stork in China, Mitochondrial DNA Part B 2, 510-511. (pdf)
Slikas B (1997), Phylogeny of the avian family Ciconiidae (storks) based on cytochrome b sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization distances, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 8, 275-300. (abstract)
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