Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶
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Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶
@stervander.com
3.5K followers 470 following 330 posts
Singing evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, insulaphile. PhD. Senior Curator of #Birds @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social, Scientific Assoc @nhm-london.bsky.social‬, Assoc Editor Ibis & Ornis Svecica, ~Sequencer AviList. [Views obvs my own; ex-X-@nesospiza]
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I've been silent a while, as I've struggled to keep up with *most* things, due to accumulated stress from hubby's 5-month unemployment, teenager+school+drama, challenging relatives & whatnot. #Birding gives me relief when #MentalHealth is so-so: recent Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) = golden band-aid!
October 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
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Join us as Assistant #Curator of Vertebrates @ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿NMS! Large collections of #birds & #mammals + very active specimen prep = cool place! The ad doesn't say, but I say there's a good chance of prolongation beyond 1y. Hurry up and apply/spread the word: careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553!

🪶🧪 #museumjobs #job
Yours truly and our mounted Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) specimen The bird collection store, busy with visiting researchers, mounts, and in the background our volunteers who capture data from the specimen labels. It's not always this packed, but we do have a fair number of volunteers and visitors. Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in trays in the cabinets. The collections spaces are pretty new, fresh, and functional, which is not always the case for museum collections... A tray of African raptor eggs to illustrate the breadth of the bird collection, which holds som 70K skin specimens, 60K egg clutches, and 10K skeletons.
August 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
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Finally, I must shout out to the journal Avian Systematics and EiC Trevor Worthy + wizard Steven Gregory. I've learned tons about nomenclature in the revisions and edits and the process has been fast and good.

No fees + Open Access, the journal just moved to www.avespress.com/avian-system....
The cover of Volume 1 of Avian Systematics, now published (continuously) by Aves Press.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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I ran this side project for @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social & @nhm-london.bsky.social w great collabs: Gerald Mayr (Dr Bones & Rapid-write) and Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong (of #B10K #Bird10K, saving the day when supposedly public data was not so public).

Special thx to Piotr Gryz for cave rail pic!
Illustrating Bird10K by reusing my old collage of Elementaves bird species, arranged following the classical elements, from bottom to top, of water, earth, air, and fire. All images with CC0 license, unless otherwise stated. Water: Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti), Common Loon (Gavia immer). Earth: Indian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus) [Hari K Patibanda, https://flic.kr/p/2oM6rs3, CC BY-NC 2.0], Tasmanian Nativehen (Tribonyx mortierii). Air: Common Swift (Apus apus), Stripe-tailed Hummingbird (Eupherusa eximia). Fire: Sunbittern (Eurypygia helias) [Jean Ogden, https://flic.kr/p/2puQRv2, CC BY 2.0], White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus).
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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...so we described Nesotrochidae fam. nov., the cave rail family! They are (were) distinguished by a number of osteological characters, not least that the humerus has a large and ventrally protruding processus flexorius.

Voilá: Nesotrochidae Stervander, Chen, Feng & Mayr, 2025!
Figure 3 of Stervander et al. (2025): https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/212/file/AS_2_8_PDFA.pdf. Here, the one and only Gerald Mayr describes the differences in bone morphology between cave rails, rails, flufftails, and sun grebes (Heliornithidae). Figure caption: Humeri (A‒E, cranial view), tarsometatarsi (F‒H, dorsal view), and hypotarsi (I‒M, proximal view) of the Rallidae (A, F, I), Heliornithidae (B, J), Sarothruridae (C, K), Nesotrochidae, fam. nov. (D, G, L), and Aptornithidae (E, H, M). A, Aramides cajanea (right side); F, I, Aramides saracura (right side); B, J, Heliornis fulica (all left side); C, K, Sarothrura pulchra (C: right side, K: left side); D, G, L, Nesotrochis steganinos (from Olson, 1974: figs. 1 and 2; D: left side, G, L: right side); E, H, M, Aptornis defossor (all right side). Abbreviations: fdl, sulcus/canal for tendon of musculus flexor digitorum longus; fhl, sulcus for tendon of musculus flexor hallucis longus; fp2, sulcus/canal for tendon of musculus flexor perforatus digiti II; fpp2, sulcus/canal for tendon of musculus flexor perforans et perforatus digiti II; flx, processus flexorius. The scale bars equal 10 mm in A‒H and 5 mm in I‒M; the scale bars for N. steganinos are approximate and based on measurements given by Olson (1974).
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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This fully supported topology presents three options: merge family Aptornithidae (adzebills) with (1) Nesotrochis or (2) that + current family Sarothruridae (flufftails)—or (3) award the cave rails family status as Nesotrochidae.

#1–2 seem unreasonable given the marked distinctness of adzebills...
Artistic rendition of an adzebill from New Zealand, by Nobu Tamura, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aptornis_BW.jpg under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en). These beasts are markedly different from flufftails and forest rails as well as cave rails.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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Dated Bayesian analyses of 9,615 base pairs coding mitochondrial sequence, in 16 partitions w optimised substitution models, didn't result in the unresolved polytomy of Oswald et al. (2021). Neither was Nesotrochis sister with Sarothruridae, but split as sister from Aptornithidae 37 Mya!
Phylogenetic tree from Figure 2 of Stervander et al (2025): /https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/212/file/AS_2_8_PDFA.pdf. Caption: Dated phylogeny based on 9,615 base pairs mitochondrial DNA across Gruiformes, with charadriiform outgroups (in grey). With full posterior probability (PP = 1.0), the Cuban cave rail Nesotrochis steganinos Olson, 1974 is the sister taxon of the adzebill family Aptornithidae Bonaparte, 1856, from which it diverged 36.7 Ma. Their most recent common ancestor diverged from the flufftail family Sarothruridae Verheyen, 1957 at 42.9 Ma. Some key nodes are annotated tip-side of the node with the estimated and the 95% highest posterior density for divergence time. Nodes used for time calibrations are marked with asterisks and the calibration density distributions coloured in peach. All nodes shown have PP = 1.0 except one within Sarothruridae labelled with the PP value in bold italics on the root-side of the node. In the geological time scale, Pli = Pliocene, Ple = Pleistocene. Clade colours correspond to Figure 1 and Oswald et al. (2021). This tree is based on a single BEAST run comprising 100 million generations, with 13% burn-in and mean node heights. For other trees, see Data Availability.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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—so we generated new mitogenomes for Madagascar Forest Rail (Mentocrex kioloides) and Forbes's Forest Rail (Rallicula forbesi), neither of them rails, but members of the flufftail family (Sarothruridae)!
Painting by John Gould of the Forbes's Forest Rail (Rallicula forbesi), CC BY 0.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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The phylogenetic analyses bugged me a little, though, as I thought more rigorous DNA substitution model testing and partitioning (and RY-coding of third-codon positions) might provide more clarity... So I'd better test it! We used the same dataset—except data for two species were unavailable—
Madagascar Forest Rail (Mentocrex kioloides) also isn't a rail, but part of the flufftail family! Though mitogenome data of Mentocrex have been included in published papers, none were readily available, and we went about creating a de novo assembly, since the inclusion of Mentocrex could be important. Photo: Nigel Voaden (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/3550287) under CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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This was a super cool study, but the exact placement of cave rails was unresolved: they could be basal to flufftails & adzebills, sister to flufftails (best supported) or to adzebills—yielding wildly different classification options. Expanding Sarothruridae (flufftails) or Aptornithidae (adzebills)?
The different tree topologies compatible with Oswald et al. (2021), from our new paper (Figure 1): https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/212/file/AS_2_8_PDFA.pdf. Depending on the exact placement of cave rails (Nesotrochis spp.), on could envision an expanded Sarothruridae (flufftail family) or an expanded Aptornithidae (adzebill family) that comprises Nesotrochis and possibly also the flufftails. Figure caption: Potential and previously recovered phylogenetic scenarios within Heliornithes Mayr, 2019. Family Heliornithidae Gray, 1840 is known to be basal within the clade, but the relationships among families Sarothruridae Verheyen, 1957 and Aptornithidae Bonaparte, 1856, as well as genus Nesotrochis Wetmore, 1918 are unresolved. ● = full nodal support; ○ = low nodal support. Clade colours correspond to those of Oswald et al. (2021) as well as Figure 2. Vertical bars to the right of trees represent the necessary expansion of currently recognized families (S on blue = Sarothruridae; A on red = Aptornithidae), should Nesotrochis not be recognized to constitute a new family. (a) Present knowledge, based on Oswald et al. (2021), effectively reflects a hard polytomy, where Sarothruridae, Aptornithidae, and Nesotrochis form a well-supported clade, whose internal arrangement is unresolved. (b) The main tree (“Figure 1”; “Dataset 2”) of Oswald et al. (2021) puts Nesotrochis basal relative to Sarothruridae and Aptornithidae as sisters, but the latter sister relationship only received bootstrap support of 58%. (c) The alternative tree (“Figure S1”; “Dataset 1”) of Oswald et al. (2021) recovers Nesotrochis as sister to Sarothruridae, with Aptornithidae basal relative to them. However, the former sister relationship only received 52% bootstrap support. (d) The third possible topology, previously not recovered, would put Sarothruridae basal relative to the sister taxa Nesotrochis and Aptornithidae.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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So what's new and what was known? In 2021, Jessica Oswald & colleagues managed to extract ancient DNA from a Haitian Cave Rail (Nesotrochis steganinos) and, analysing #mitochondrial DNA, found they were not #rails(!) but more closely related to flufftails and adzebills: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
Figure 2 from Oswald et al. (2021): https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0760. World map showing the historical distributions of cave rails and adzebills and the present distribution of the flufftail family.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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Welcome a new family of #birds, the Caribbean cave rails, Nesotrochidae! They were—surprisingly—the sisters of NZ adzebills, all sadly extinct. New #OpenAccess paper out in Avian #Systematics w Gerald Mayr, Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong: www.avespress.com/uploads/down...

🧵

#ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶
An artistic rendition of the extinct Antillean Cave Rail, Nesotrochis debooyi Wetmore, 1918. ©Piotr Gryz, with permission.
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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🐦 It's been a while (in several aspects), so I'm extra excited to start the day with a #paper accept.

Can't wait for this to hit the press, clarifying relationships among a bunch of cool #birds and introducing a new #avian family! Which one? You'll soon see... 😉

#taxonomy #systematics 🪶🧪
[Road sign with the text "Accept"] Accept by Nick Youngson (http://www.nyphotographic.com/) under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) from Pix4free (https://pix4free.org/photo/2221/accept.html).
June 20, 2025 at 9:18 AM
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My main contribution to this monumentous project has been to shake up the linear sequence of the checklist to better reflect our current understanding of the avian evolutionary tree! Ostrich first—Saltator last no more... We go from Somali Ostrich to Blue-necked Tanager!
Somali Ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes), photo by Steve Garvie under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 at https://www.flickr.com/photos/rainbirder/5396924328. Blue-necked Tanager (Stilpnia cyanicollis), photo by Alexandra Castañeda Hincapié under CC BY-NC 4.0 at https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/122443363.
June 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
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There's a tab explaining how to use the checklist (different fields etc.), but importantly, there is a also a page outlining various important components of the checklist: www.avilist.org/checklist/co....
Components page screenshot from AviList
June 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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The checklist is downloadable from doi.org/10.2173/avil... and comprises *lots* of info, incl e.g. author, year of description, and publication source. Decision summary statements are included for all 1000+ cases where taxonomy differed between IOC, eBird/Clements & @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social.
Recommended citation (see https://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/)
June 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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🦅 The new unified global #avian #taxonomy #AviList has just been released at www.avilist.org! Xmas for anyone interested in #birds & checklists... The first version will be followed by annual updates, with decisions and processes aimed to be more transparent than its predecessors'. 🪶🧪

🧵
Start page screenshot.
June 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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The photos of @ijandrews.bsky.social are great! I filmed with phone while watching in bins, but here's a phone screen grab to water your mouths...
June 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Happy New Year's Day from Portobello beach, #Edinburgh! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
January 1, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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Thanks for the input, Vitor. The light may be playing a part; I somewhat sloppily adjusted brightness to compensate for suboptimal lighting for photography in the collections. Attaching an unadjusted pic here. But it could also be faded due to light exposure, increasing contrast.
Same bird as in original post, no adjustment of brightness.
December 17, 2024 at 1:44 PM
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It's a small bugger, collected in end of April in Bartica Grove in northern Guyana. Wing length 49 mm. I'd be very happy for your input!

#LBJ #MuseumLife
Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Dorsal view with wing somewhat spread, showing wing formula. Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Ventral view, the bird placed on a ruler, showing the body length being 86 mm.
December 17, 2024 at 11:41 AM
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🪶Help me out, #ornithology folks of #BirdSky! Curating @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social collections for digitisation, I found this labeled Stripe-tailed Yellow Finch (Sicalis citrina), which it's NOT. #SouthAmerican #birds ≠ my forte: is this a Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) or something else?
Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Lateral view of the head and upper body. Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Lateral view. Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Dorsal view. Bird skin specimen from the National Museums Scotland collection. This is a brown and streaky finch-like bird with conical bill. Ventral view.
December 17, 2024 at 11:39 AM
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Last week, rigorous analyses by @thelabandfield.bsky.social & co-authors saw Slender-billed Curlew declared #extinct in
#OpenAccess @ibisjournal.bsky.social paper (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), while we (coincidentally!) digitised the 7 @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social specimens.

#birds 🪶🧪
A skin specimen of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) in the National Museums Scotland bird collections. The labeled bird is lying on its back. (Photo: Martin Stervander) Our star volunteers Shawn Waddoups and Rosie Filipiak record the data from the labels of Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) skin specimens in the National Museums Scotland bird collections. Rosie, with a camera in one hand, is handling and documenting one bird, while Shawn is entering data in front of the computer. Between them on a work bench is a tray with another six Slender-billed Curlews. (Photo: Martin Stervander)
November 26, 2024 at 8:54 PM
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'Tis done. From now, I'm here, and all of me except an informative finger is removed from #Twitter.

For anyone considering it, I'd recommend @luca.run's free & efficient script github.com/lucahammer/t.... It's a 2-step process that'll also give you an archive of your Twitter history!

#xit
Screen shot from my the only tweet on my Twitter profile, which feature a photo of a blue sky and a photo of butterflies, along with the following tweet text: "I'm really not ok with what's going on here at ⓔI🔛's playground, so I have removed my 5,371 posts over 13 years. If you want to follow/interact with me, my handle info tells you where to find me, and the photos give you another hint. Don't expect response here. Over and out."
November 20, 2024 at 1:15 PM
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Participated in a photo project combined with some #birding at Ferny Ness ( #Edinburgh -ish) this morning. Freezing cold, but beautiful and quite rewarding with at least 50 Little Auks (🇺🇸 Dovekies; Alle alle) and 1 Great Northern Diver (🇺🇸 Common Loon; Gavia immer) at Ferny Ness. 🪶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Ferny Ness 19 November: sunny with clouds on a blue sky, some land in the foreground, behind that Firth of Forth, in the distance Edinburgh.
November 19, 2024 at 2:57 PM