Of the families in Pelecaniformes, onlyPelecanidae,Balaenicipitidae, andScopidae remain. The tropicbird familyPhaethontidae has since been moved to their orderPhaethontiformes. Genetic analysis seems to show that the Pelecaniformes are actually closely related to theArdeidae andThreskiornithidae. As for the Suliformes, they are distantly related to the current Pelecaniformes.[3] According to Hackettet al. (2008),loons,penguins,storks, and as well as Suliformes and Pelecaniformes, all seem to have evolved from a common ancestor. The proposedwaterbird superorder has been suggested.[4]
In their landmark 2008 workSystematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds, Australian ornithologists Les Christidis and Walter E. Boles coined the name Phalacrocoraciformes for the group due to the much greater number of species of cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae) over boobies and gannets (Sulidae).[5] However, this has not been taken up elsewhere.
In 1994, American ornithologist Walter J. Bock wrote that the name Suloidea had been used consistently as a term for a superfamily containing the two families, so therefore "Sulidae" and not "Phalacrocoracidae" should take priority in any arrangement containing the two genera.[6]
In 2010, the AOU adopted the term Suliformes for the taxon.[7] The IOC followed in 2011.[8]
In 1994, Martyn Kennedy and colleagues constructed a behavioural data set, with the resulting tree showing a high level of congruence with existing phylogenies based on genetics or morphology. It showed the darters as sister group to the cormorants and shags, with the gannets and boobies, then pelicans, then frigatebirds and lastly tropicbirds as progressively earlier offshoots.[9]
^Bock, Walter J. (1994). "History and nomenclature of avian family-group names".Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.222: 1–281 [166–67].IfSula andPhalacrocorax are included in the same family-level taxon (e.g. superfamily), then Sulidae Reichenbach, 1849 (1836) (Sula Brisson, 1760) has priority in preference to Phalacrocoracidae Reichenbach, 1849-50 (1836) (Phalacrocorax Brisson, 1760), because the name Suloidea has been consistently used in avian classification as a superfamily name. Phalacrocoracidae Reichenbach, 1849-50 (1836) can still be used for any taxon containingPhalacrocorax but notSula.
^"Taxonomy Version 2".IOC World Bird List: Version 3.1. 2011. Retrieved15 July 2012.
^Kennedy, Martyn; Spencer, Hamish G.; Gray, Russell D. (1996). "Hop, step and gape: do the social displays of the Pelecaniformes reflect phylogeny?".Animal Behaviour.51 (2):273–291.doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0028.S2CID53202305.
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