Стерх
The Siberian crane was formally described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1773 and given the binomial name "Grus leucogeranus". The specific epithet is derived from the classical Greek words "leukos" for "white" and "geranos " for a "crane". Ustad Mansur, a 17th-century court artist and singer of Jahangir, had illustrated a Siberian crane about 100 years earlier. The genus "Megalornis" was used for the cranes by George Robert Gray and this species was included in it, while Richard Bowdler Sharpe suggested a separation from "Grus" and used the genus "Sarcogeranus". The Siberian crane lacks the complex tracheal coils found in most other cranes but shares this feature with the wattled crane. The unison call differed from that of most cranes and some authors suggested that the Siberian crane belonged in the genus "Bugeranus" along with the wattled crane. Comparisons of the DNA sequences of cytochrome-b however suggest that the Siberian crane is basal among the Gruinae and the wattled crane is retained as the sole species in the genus "Bugeranus" and placed as a sister to the "Anthropoides" cranes.