Openbill stork

"Anastomus" redirects here; not to be confused with Anostomus.

The openbill storks or openbills are two species of stork (family Ciconiidae) in the genus Anastomus. They are large wading birds characterized by large bills, the mandibles of which do not meet except at the tip. This feature develops only in the adults. Both species feed predominantly on molluscs. The roof of the upper bill is fringed with plate-like structures ("lamellae") in the African openbill, but these are absent in the Asian openbill.^[2][3]

Openbill storks
African openbill by Huet & Prêtre
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Ciconiidae
Genus:	Anastomus Bonnaterre, 1791
Type species
Ardea oscitans[1] Boddaert, 1783
Species
Anastomus lamelligerus Anastomus oscitans
Synonyms
Hians Lacepede, 1799 Rhynchochasme Hermann, 1804 Empharis Rafinesque, 1815 (Nom. Nov.) Apertirostra Drapiez, 1822 Chaenoramphe Dumont, 1817 Chaenoramphus Thon, 1830 (Emend.) Chenoramphus Gray, 1848 (Emend.) Hiator Reichenbach, 1852-53

Taxonomy

The genus Anastomus was erected by the French naturalist Pierre Bonnaterre in 1791.^[4] The type species was subsequently designated as the Asian openbill (Anastomus oscitans).^[5][6] The name Anastomus is from the Ancient Greek αναστομοω anastomoō meaning "to furnish with a mouth" or "with mouth wide-opened".^[7]

There are two species of openbilled storks:^[8]

Genus Anastomus – Bonnaterre, 1791 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
African openbill	Anastomus lamelligerus Temminck, 1823 Two subspecies A. l. lamelligerus A. l. madagascariensis	A resident breeder in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar	Size: measuring 80–94 cm (31–37 in) and weighing 1–1.3 kg (2.2–2.9 lb) Habitat: Diet: aquatic snails and fresh water mussels	LC
Asian openbill	Anastomus oscitans (Boddaert, 1783)	A resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia.	Size: 68 cm (27 in) height (81 cm (32 in) long). Habitat: Diet:	LC