Spotted Shag

The spotted shag or pārekareka (Phalacrocorax punctatus) is a species of cormorant endemic to New Zealand. Though originally classified as Phalacrocorax punctatus, it is sufficiently different in appearance from typical members of that genus that for a time it was placed in a separate genus, Stictocarbo, along with a similar species, the Pitt shag. Subsequent genetic studies show that the spotted shag's lineage is nested within the typical shags. == Taxonomy == The spotted shag was initially called the 'crested shag' by Johann Forster. He shot the bird while hunting with the English Naval Explorer James Cook during the second voyage of James Cook. Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman was Forster's assistant, he described the spotted shag in 1786 as Pelicanus punctatus. French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte erected the separate genus Stictocarbo for it in 1855. It was later returned to its original genus. In 1930, the Stewart Island population was described as a separate species, the blue shag (Stictocarbo steadi), distinguished by its narrow rather than broad white stripe on its head and neck. A 2014 molecular study by Kennedy and Spencer found that the spotted shag belongs to a clade of Old World cormorants. Its closest relative is the…