Little white tern

Little white tern
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Laridae
Genus:	Gygis
Species:	G. microrhyncha
Binomial name
Gygis microrhyncha Saunders, 1876

The little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha) is a small seabird found in French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati. ^[1] This species was previously considered a subspecies of the white tern (Gygis alba microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The little white tern was first formally described by the British ornithologist Howard Saunders in 1876 under the binomial name Gygis microrhyncha ^[3] meaning small (micro) bill (rhyncha). There are no recognized subspecies. Some authors have postulated that there may be three species of Gygis: Gygis alba , in the Atlantic Ocean, and Gygis candida and Gygis microrhyncha, both in the Pacific. ^[4]

Description

The little white tern is much smaller and has a more slender bill than any subspecies of the common white tern. ^[5] It has been described as a "compact, goggle-eyed bird with shorter, more rounded wings and less deeply forked tail" when compared to Gygis alba. ^[4] The calamus or 'quill' of the feather in the little white tern are notably white compared to black calamus found in common white terns. ^[6]

Distribution and habitat

The little white tern ranges throughout French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati, including the Phoenix and Line Islands, ^[7] and was first described from three specimens from the Marquesas Islands.

References

1. BirdLife International (2018). "Gygis microrhyncha". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018 e.T22694830A132576654. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22694830A132576654.en . Retrieved 15 September 2023.
2. del Hoyo, J; Collar, N.J.; Christie, D.A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L.D.C. (2014). HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.: Lynx Edicions BirdLife International.
3. Saunders, Howard (1876). "On the Sterninæ, or Terns, with Descriptions of Three New Species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 44: 638–672. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1876.tb02598.x.
4. Pratt, H. Douglas (2020). "Species limits and English names in the genus Gygis (Laridae)". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 140 (2): 195–208. doi: 10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a10 . ISSN   0007-1595.
5. Olson, Storrs L (2005). "First occurrence of Gygis microrhyncha in the Hawaiian Islands". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 125: 155–157.
6. Tristram, H.B. (1881). "Notes on a Collection of Birds from the Marquesas Islands". Ibis. 23 (2): 249–253. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1881.tb06022.x.
7. "Gygis microrhyncha (Little White Tern) - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-04.