Icterus galbula
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Icterus galbula's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation15 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 081 583 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System113 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI14 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics13 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome ~1.20 Gbp↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
IOC World Bird ListIOCbird checklist↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) is a small icterid blackbird common in eastern North America as a migratory breeding bird. It received its name from the resemblance of the male's colors to those on the coat-of-arms of 17th century Lord Baltimore. Observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore oriole and the western Bullock's oriole, Icterus bullockii, led to both being classified as a single species, called the northern oriole, from 1973 to 1995. Research by James Rising, a professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, and others showed that the two birds actually did not interbreed significantly. The Baltimore oriole is the state bird of Maryland. It is also the namesake and mascot for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology13
Life cycle & reproduction9
Diet & foraging9
Habitat & environment4
Physiology & chemistry1
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Icterus galbula has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Icterus galbula carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type4 081 696 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions42 of 84 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Wuzhou, CN | 838 |
| Ithaca, US | 479 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 397 |
| New Haven, US | 359 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 291 |
| US | 283 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 151 |
| Mongolian Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 136 |
| Seattle, US | 135 |
| Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record | 91 |
| Albany, US | 90 |
| 83 | |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 80 |
| Ohio State University - Bird Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 76 |
| München, DE | 73 |
| Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record | 72 |
| Berkeley, US | 70 |
| Cambridge, US | 67 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 60 |
| Tuxtla Gutiérrez, MX | 58 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 57 |
| Chicago, US | 52 |
| Mexico City, MX | 52 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 49 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 49 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 45 |
| St. Paul, US | 42 |
| Philadelphia, US | 41 |
| Morelia, MX | 40 |
| Denver, US | 34 |
| Iowa City, US | 33 |
| Saint John, CA | 32 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 30 |
| University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record | 24 |
| Toronto, CA | 22 |
| Tall Timbers Research Stationlocation not on record | 17 |
| South Kensington, GB | 17 |
| Science Museum of Minnesotalocation not on record | 16 |
| Indiana State Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Paris, FR | 13 |
| Tacoma, US | 13 |
| San Diego, US | 13 |
| Washington State University, Charles R. Conner Museumlocation not on record | 12 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 12 |
| CASlocation not on record | 11 |
| ASNHClocation not on record | 11 |
| Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record | 7 |
| Edmonton, CA | 7 |
| Zacatecas, MX | 7 |
| NCBlocation not on record | 6 |
| Washington, US | 6 |
| Mexico City, MX | 6 |
| Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record | 5 |
| Zografou, GR | 4 |
| Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record | 4 |
| EL PASO, US | 4 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 4 |
| Chicago, US | 4 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 4 |
| Université de Montréallocation not on record | 3 |
| Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitanolocation not on record | 3 |
| Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenadalocation not on record | 3 |
| Los Angeles, US | 3 |
| Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabascolocation not on record | 2 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 2 |
| Auckland, NZ | 2 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Museo de Zoología, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapaslocation not on record | 2 |
| Durango, MX | 2 |
| Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)location not on record | 2 |
| Geneva, CH | 2 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 1 |
| Philip L. Wright Zoological Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Bourges, FR | 1 |
| Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)location not on record | 1 |
| Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Moreloslocation not on record | 1 |
| Sistema de Colecciones Biológicas, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala location not on record | 1 |
| University of Nebraska at Omahalocation not on record | 1 |
| San Francisco de Campeche, MX | 1 |
| Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja Californialocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrateslocation not on record | 1 |
| Vancouver, CA | 1 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 1 |
| Hardin-Simmons Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Icterus galbula was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.