Anastomus lamelligerus

The African Openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a species of stork from the family Ciconiidae.Kahl, M. P. (1972). Comparative ethology of the Ciconiidae: part 5. The Openbill Storks (genus Anastomus). Journal Für Ornithologie, 113(2), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01640497. It is widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and western regions of Madagascar.Vigneron, J. P., Lousse, V., Colomer Jean-François, Rassart, M., & Louette, M. (2006). Complex optical structure in the ribbon-like feathers of the african open-bill stork, Proceedings of SPIE, 6320, 632014-1–632014-10. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.682250. This species is considered common to locally abundant across its range, although it has a patchy distribution.Kahl, M. P. (1987). An overview of the storks of the world. Colonial Waterbirds, 10(2), 131–131. https://doi.org/10.2307/1521251. Some experts consider there to be two sub-species, A. l. lamelligerus distributed on the main continent and A. l. madagascariensis living on the island of Madagascar.Kahl, M. P. (1972). A revision of the family Ciconiidae (Aves). Journal of Zoology, 167, 451–461. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb01736.x. Scientists make the difference between the two sub-species due to the more pronounced longitudinal ridges on the bills of adult A. l. madagascariensis.The Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) distributed in Asia is the African Openbill’s closest relative. The two species share the same notably large bill of a peculiar shape that gives them their name.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.