American White Pelican - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the American White Pelican in 1789. The scientific name means "red-billed pelican", from the Latin term for a pelican, Pelecanus, and erythrorhynchos, derived from the Ancient Greek words erythros (ἐρυθρός, "red") + rhynchos (ῥύγχος, "bill").