Affocarbo, Kennedy & Salis & Seneviratne & Rathnayake & Nupen & Ryan & Volponi & Lubbe & Spencer, 2023

Kennedy, Martyn, Salis, Alexander T., Seneviratne, Sampath S., Rathnayake, Dilini, Nupen, Lisa J., Ryan, Peter G., Volponi, Stefano, Lubbe, Pascale & Spencer, Nicolas J. Rawlence Hamish G., 2023, Phylogeny of the microcormorants, with the description of a new genus, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 199 (1), pp. 310-317 : 316

Genus Aflocarbo gen. nov.

Type species: Pelecanus aflicanus Gmelin, 1789 .

Diagnosis: Small cormorants, with relatively short bills and long tails. They differ from the similarly proportioned Microcarbo (type species Pelecanus pygmaeus Pallas ) in the adult possessing a more extensive area of bare skin on the face from the eye forwards in addition to under the bill, with prebreeding birds having a more obvious forehead crest and a red iris (dark brown or green in Microcarbo ).

Included species: Aflocarbo aflicanus (Gmelin, 1789) and Aflocarbo coronatus (Wahlberg, 1855) .

Etymology: The name refers to the African distribution of the included species. Gender masculine.

ZooBank registration of Aflocarbo gen. nov.: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:24E4B36E-B129-4EA5-9DCC-4A59B14F69CE .

Comments: The two species in Aflocarbo have long been placed in the superficially similar Microcarbo . (Many cormorant species, including both type species, were originally described in the Linnean genus Pelecanus , now restricted to pelicans.) Members of both genera are smaller than other phalacrocoracids, with shorter bills and relatively longer tails. Breeding adults of the two species of Aflocarbo have an obvious area of bare facial skin from the eye forwards, usually a reddish pink and speckled with black; those of Microcarbo have clearly smaller areas of bare skin, at most a narrow band immediately in front of the eye, ranging from yellowish olive to black. Aflocarbo is also distinguishable from Microcarbo in that adults have a red eye. There appears to be considerable overlap in ecological and feeding preferences among species.