Editing Scarlet ibis (section)

==Taxonomy==
The species was first classified by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758. Initially given the [[binomial nomenclature]] of  ''Scolopax rubra''<ref name=Colonial1987/> (the name incorporates the [[Latin]] adjective ''ruber'', "red"), the species was later designated ''Guara rubra'' and ultimately ''Eudocimus ruber''.<ref name=Avibase>{{Cite web |url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=45039A43F7F8A9CF |title=Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) (Linnaeus, 1758) |author=Denis Lepage |year=2003 |publisher=BirdLife International |work=Avibase.bsc-eoc.org |access-date=12 December 2011 }}</ref>

Biologically the scarlet ibis is very closely related to the [[American white ibis]] (''Eudocimus albus'') and is sometimes considered [[Conspecificity|conspecific]] with it,<ref name=Colonial1987>{{Cite journal | last1 = Ramo | first1 = Cristina| last2 = Busto | first2 = Benjamin  | title = Hybridization Between the Scarlet Ibis (''Eudocimus ruber'') and the White Ibis (''Eudocimus albus'') in Venezuela | journal = Colonial Waterbirds | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | pages = 111–14 | doi = 10.2307/1521240 | year = 1987 | jstor = 1521240}}</ref><ref name=Cornell2009>{{Cite web|url=http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/009/articles/introduction|author1=Kushlan, James A. |author2=Bildstein, Keith L. |title=White Ibis|work=Birds of North America Online |publisher=Cornell University |date=February 10, 2009|access-date=12 December 2011 }}</ref> leaving modern science divided over their [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]]. The two birds each have exactly the same bones, claws, beaks, feather arrangements and other features – their one marked difference lies in their pigmentation.<ref name=Zahl1954>{{Cite book |title=Coro-Coro: The World of the Scarlet Ibis |last=Zahl |first=Paul A. |author-link=Paul A. Zahl |year=1954 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill Co. |location=Indianapolis/New York |oclc=799120 |pages=192–193 }}</ref> Traditional taxonomy has regarded the two as separate and distinct.<ref name=Zahl1954/>

Early ornithological field research revealed no natural crossbreeding among the red and white, lending support to the two-species viewpoint.<ref name=Zahl1954/> More recent observation, however, has documented significant crossbreeding and [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridization]] in the wild. Researchers Cristina Ramo and Benjamin Busto found evidence of interbreeding in a population where the ranges of the scarlet and white ibises overlap along the coast and in the [[Llanos]] in Colombia and Venezuela. They observed individuals of the two species mating and pairing, as well as hybrid ibises with pale orange plumage, or white plumage with occasional orange [[feathers]], and have proposed that these birds be classified as a single species.<ref name=Colonial1987/><!-- cites previous four sentences --> Hybridization has been known to occur frequently in captivity. However, the two color forms persist in the wild despite overlapping ranges and hybrid offspring having a distinctive color type, so according to the [[Glossary of evolutionary biology#cohesion species concept|cohesion species concept]] they would be functionally different species.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/eudoc_albus.htm |title=Species Name: Eudocimus albus |author=K. Hill |year=2001 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution: Marine Station at Fort Pierce |work=Sms.si.edu |access-date=12 December 2011 }}</ref>

Some biologists now wish to pair them with ''Eudocimus albus'' as two [[subspecies]] of the same American ibis.<ref name=Colonial1987/> Others simply define both of them as one and the same species, with ''ruber'' being a color variation of ''albus''.<ref name=Nellis>{{Cite book |last=Nellis |first=David W. |title=Common Coastal Birds of Florida & the Caribbean |date=March 2001 |publisher=Pineapple Press Inc. |isbn=978-1-56164-191-8 |pages=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-REZ4R8wBg4C&pg=PA151 |access-date=12 December 2011 }}</ref>