Bonaparte formou o nome do xénero unindo os elementos micro-, tirado do grego antigo μικρός mikrós, "pequeno",[2] e -carbo, do nome específico do Phalacrocorax carbo, o corvo mariño grande, xa que todos os seus membros son corvos mariños de pequeno tamaño.
↑van Tets, G. F. (1994): "An extinct new species of cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae, Aves) from a Western Australian peat swamp". Records of the South Australian Museum27 (2): 135–138.
↑Christidis, L. & W. E. Boles (2008) Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.
↑Holland, Barbara R.; Hamish G. Spencer; Trevor H. Worthy and Martyn Kennedy (2010) "Identifying cliques of convergent characters: concerted evolution in the cormorants and shags"; Systematic Biology59 (4):433-45.
↑Kennedy, Martyn & Hamish G. Spencer (2014) "Classification of the cormorants of the world"; Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution79: 249–257.