---
title: "African Openbill"
description: "Anastomus lamelligerus — Birds. The African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a species of stork from the family Ciconiidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/african-openbill
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# African Openbill

> Anastomus lamelligerus — Birds. The African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a species of stork from the family Ciconiidae.

- Scientific name: *Anastomus lamelligerus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 3389
- Wikidata: [Q26902](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26902)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4776](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4776)

## Names

- en: African Openbill
- de: Mohrenklaffschnabel
- es: Picotenaza africano
- fr: Bec-ouvert africain
- nl: Afrikaanse gaper
- pt: Bico-aberto
- pl: Kleszczak afrykański

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (607), BW (565), UG (402), ZM (357), TZ (238), NA (202), KE (181), ZW (156), MW (132), NG (71), MZ (66), AO (52)

## Summary

The African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a species of stork from the family Ciconiidae. It is widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and western regions of Madagascar. This species is considered common to locally abundant across its range, although it has a patchy distribution. Some experts consider there to be two sub-species, A. l. lamelligerus distributed on the continent and A. l. madagascariensis living on the island of Madagascar. Scientists distinguish between the two sub-species due to the more pronounced longitudinal ridges on the bills of adult A. l. madagascariensis. The Asian openbill (Anastomus…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_openbill

## Photo

![African Openbill](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/african-openbill/medium.jpg)

Photo: Philipp · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87179994

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/african-openbill?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).