NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Pied Stilt
Himantopus leucocephalus Gould, 1837
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), Hexham Swamp, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The pied stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), also known as the white-headed stilt, is a shorebird in the family Recurvirostridae. It is widely distributed with a large total population size and apparently stable population trend, occurring in Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, Christmas Island, Indonesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the black-winged stilt (H. himantopus).
Wikipedia contributors, Pied stilt; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:00:31.078492+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Himantopus leucocephalus Gould, 1837
- Name authority
- Gould, 1837
- Common name
- Pied Stilt
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Recurvirostridae
- Genus
- Himantopus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyRecurvirostridae
- genusHimantopus Brisson, 1760
- speciesHimantopus leucocephalus Gould, 1837
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Himantopus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758) | RecurvirostridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-backed StiltHimantopus melanurus Vieillot, 1817 | RecurvirostridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black StiltHimantopus novaezelandiae Gould, 1841 | RecurvirostridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus Gould, 1837 Gould, 1837 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=560443 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3LXZ7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.