NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Royal Spoonbill
Platalea regia Gould, 1838
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The royal spoonbill (Platalea regia), also known as the black-billed spoonbill lives in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. (In New Zealand, it is also known by the Māori name kōtuku ngutupapa.) It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia. It is one of 6 spoonbill species world wide. The royal spoonbill lives in wetlands and feeds on crustaceans, fish and small insects by sweeping its bill from side to side. It always flies with its head extended. Widespread throughout its large range, the royal spoonbill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Wikipedia contributors, Royal spoonbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:46:20.643715+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Platalea regia Gould, 1838
- Name authority
- Gould, 1838
- Common name
- Royal Spoonbill
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Pelecaniformes
- Family
- Threskiornithidae
- Genus
- Platalea
- 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
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyThreskiornithidae Poche, 1904
- genusPlatalea Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesPlatalea regia Gould, 1838
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Platalea. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| African SpoonbillPlatalea alba Scopoli, 1786 | ThreskiornithidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-billed SpoonbillPlatalea flavipes Gould, 1838 | ThreskiornithidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eurasian SpoonbillPlatalea leucorodia Linnaeus, 1758 | ThreskiornithidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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.
- Gould, & John. (1838). A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia, and the Adjacent Islands, Vol. 1, Part 4. 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:4JMRF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.