Jump to content

Sternula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sternula
Little tern
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Subfamily: Sterninae
Genus: Sternula
F. Boie, 1822
Type species
Sterna minuta[1]
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

7, see text

Sternula is a genus of small white terns, with a global distribution along sheltered sandy coasts and large rivers.

The seven species are all closely related, with similar plumage and size, all are between 22–28 cm long and 39–63 g weight. All are pale grey above, and white or very pale grey below; in all the outer primaries are darker grey (to nearly blackish), but the number of primaries that are dark varies slightly between the species. Most have a distinctive head pattern in the breeding season, with a black crown and eyeline, and a white forehead; one (fairy tern) differs in lacking the black eye line, and one (Damara tern) has a fully black crown with no white forehead in the breeding season. The legs and bill are mostly yellow (with or without a black tip) in the breeding season, but black in Damara tern. In all species the winter plumage has a more extensive white forehead, the bill is black, and the legs darker red-brown to blackish.[2]

Although the genus was first described in 1822 by Friedrich Boie, the species in the genus were generally retained within the larger genus Sterna, the genus that holds most terns, until a study in 2005 showed that this treatment was paraphyletic, with these seven species less closely related to typical Sterna terns, than several other terns long treated in other genera like Chlidonias and Larosterna.[3]

Sternula diverged early from other terns about 16 million years ago, with only the very different noddies (Anous and Gygis), and the 'brown-backed' Onychoprion terns diverging earlier.[4] Despite the early origin of the genus, the current diversity within the genus is much more recent, with the species having a common ancestor around 4 million years ago.[4] Saunders's and least terns were both formerly considered to be subspecies of little tern.[2]

The genus name is a diminutive of Sterna, "tern".[5]

Species

[edit]

Seven species are accepted by the IOC World Bird List:[6]

Genus Sternula – F. Boie, 1822 – seven species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Little tern

Sternula albifrons
(Pallas, 1764)

Four subspecies
  • S. a. albifrons – (Pallas, 1764)
  • S. a. guineae – (Bannerman, 1931)
  • S. a. placens – Gould, 1871
  • S. a. sinensis – (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
temperate and tropical Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Saunders's tern

Sternula saundersi
(Hume, 1877) 		north-western Indian Ocean Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Least tern

Sternula antillarum
Lesson, 1847

Three subspecies
  • S. a. athalassos – (Burleigh & Lowery, 1942)
  • S. a. antillarum – (Lesson, 1847)
  • S. a. browni – (Mearns, 1916)
North America and locally in northern South America.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Yellow-billed tern

Sternula superciliaris
(Vieillot, 1819) 		Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Peruvian tern

Sternula lorata
(Philippi & Landbeck, 1861) 		Chile, Ecuador, and Peru
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 EN 


Fairy tern

Sternula nereis
(Gould, 1843)

Three subspecies
 Australia, New Caledonia,northern New Zealand Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 VU 


Damara tern

Sternula balaenarum
Strickland, 1853 		southern Africa and migrates to tropical African coasts Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 VU 



References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Laridae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ a b Hoyo, Josep del; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi (1992). Handbook of the Birds of the World: Hoatzin to auks. Barcelona: Lynx edicions. p. 656–659. ISBN 84-87334-20-2.
  3. ^ Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005). A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution Archived 2006-07-20 at the Wayback Machine. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 459–469.
  4. ^ a b Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 177: 107620. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620. Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 365. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ^ "Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks – IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-02-26.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sternula&oldid=1277671580"