NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
White-eared Night Heron
Oroanassa magnifica (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899)
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.
Nycticorax magnifica = Gorsachius magnificus
Henrik Grønvold · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The white-eared night heron (Oroanassa magnifica) is a species of heron in the family Ardeidae. It was once thought to be only found in southern China and in northern Vietnam. However, its range is actually significantly larger as in the 2010s and 2020s has been recently discovered in Cambodia, India and Bangladesh.
In 2017, it was camera-trapped in the Cardamom Mountains. In 2018, it was also reported in Valmiki National Park, India and in 2025, it was once again camera-trapped in Namdapha National Park, India. It was discovered in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh in 2022. It is threatened by habitat loss and habitat fragmentation.
Wikipedia contributors, White-eared night heron; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:25:11.336821+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Oroanassa magnifica (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899)
- Name authority
- (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899)
- Common name
- White-eared Night Heron
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Pelecaniformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- Genus
- Oroanassa
- 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
- familyArdeidae Leach, 1820
- genusOroanassa J. L. Peters, 1930
- speciesOroanassa magnifica (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gorsachius magnificus (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899) (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899) | synonym |
| Nycticorax magnifica Ogilvie-Grant, 1899 Ogilvie-Grant, 1899 | synonym |
| Nycticorax magnificus Ogilvie-Grant, 1899 Ogilvie-Grant, 1899 | 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=1244845 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:CQT7L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.