Leptoptilos

Leptoptilos is a genus of very large tropical storks, also known as the adjutant bird. The name means thin (lepto) feather (ptilos). Two species are resident breeders in southern Asia, and the marabou stork is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Leptoptilos Temporal range: Late Miocene to Recent
Marabou stork at Brevard Zoo, Florida, United States
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Ciconiidae
Genus:	Leptoptilos Lesson, 1831
Species
L. javanicus L. dubius L. crumenifer
Synonyms
Cryptociconia

These are huge birds, typically 110–150 cm tall with a 210–250 cm wingspan. The three species each have a black upper body and wings, and white belly and undertail. The head and neck are bare like those of a vulture. The huge bill is long and thick. Juveniles are a duller, browner version of the adult.

Leptoptilos storks are gregarious colonial breeders in wetlands, building large stick nests in trees. They feed on frogs, insects, young birds, lizards and rodents. They are frequent scavengers, and the naked head and neck are adaptations to this, as are those of the vultures with which they often feed. A feathered head would become rapidly clotted with blood and other substances when a scavenging bird's head was inside a large corpse, and the bare head is easier to keep clean.

Most storks fly with neck outstretched, but the three Leptoptilos storks retract their necks in flight like a heron.

Species

Extant species

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Leptoptilos javanicus	Lesser adjutant	India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia and Cambodia
	Leptoptilos dubius	Greater adjutant	northern India
	Leptoptilos crumenifer[1]	Marabou stork	Africa south of the Sahara

Fossils

There is an ample fossil record of this genus. L. titan, which was hunted by prehistoric humans, was truly gigantic, and L. falconeri possibly was one of the most widespread storks worldwide during the Pliocene:[2]

• †Leptoptilos falconeri (Early to Late Pliocene of south Asia and east Africa)
• †Leptoptilos indicus (Late Pliocene of Siwalik, India) – formerly Cryptociconia indica, may be the same as L. falconeri (Louchart et al. 2005)
• †Leptoptilos lüi (Middle Pleistocene of Jinniushan, Liaoning, China)
• †Leptoptilos patagonicus (Puerto Madryn Late Miocene of Valdés Peninsula, Argentina)
• †Leptoptilos pliocenicus (Early Pliocene of Odessa, Ukraine and Urugus, Ethiopia to Late Pliocene of Koro Toro, Chad and Olduvai, Tanzania) – includes L. cf. falconeri, may be the same as L. falconeri
• †Leptoptilos richae (Beglia Late Miocene of Bled ed Douarah, Tunisia, and Wadi Moghara, Egypt?)
• †Leptoptilos robustus (Pleistocene, Flores, Indonesia)[3]
• †Leptoptilos titan (Notopuro Middle/Late Pleistocene of Watualang, Java, Indonesia)
• †Leptoptilos sp. (Ngorora Late Miocene of Baringo District, Kenya: Louchart et al. 2005)

†Leptoptilos siwalicensis from the Siwalik deposits (Late Miocene? to Late Pliocene) may belong to this genus or to a closely related one (Louchart et al. 2005).

In culture

The adjutant bird features in the arms of Baron Sinha. In the satirical French puppet show Le Bébête Show, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was, for a time, depicted as a Leptoptilos.

References

1. David, N.; Gosselin, M. (2011). "Gender agreement of avian species-group names under Article 31.2.2 of the ICZN Code". Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 131 (2): 103–115.
2. Louchart, Antoine; Vignaud, Patrick; Likius, Andossa; Brunet, Michel; White, Tim D. (2005). "A large extinct marabou stork in African Pliocene hominid sites, and a review of the fossil species of Leptoptilos" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 50 (3): 549–563.
3. Meijer HJ, Due RA (2010). "A new species of giant marabou stork (Aves: Ciconiiformes) from the Pleistocene of Liang Bua, Flores (Indonesia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 160: 707–724. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00616.x.