| Onychoprion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sooty tern, Onychoprion fuscatus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Subfamily: | Sterninae |
| Genus: | Onychoprion Wagler, 1832 |
| Type species | |
| Sterna serrata [1] | |
| Species | |
Onychoprion lunatus | |
Onychoprion, the brown-backed terns, is a genus of seabirds in the family Laridae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek onux, "claw" or "nail", and prion, "saw". [2]
Although the genus was first described in 1832 by Johann Georg Wagler the four species in the genus were until 2005 retained in the larger genus Sterna , the genus that holds most terns. [3]
Three of the four species are tropical, and one has a sub-polar breeding range. The sooty tern has a pan-tropical distribution; the bridled tern also breeds across the Tropical Atlantic and Indian Ocean but in the central Pacific it is replaced by the spectacled tern. The Aleutian tern breeds around Alaska and Siberia but winters in the tropics around South East Asia.
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spectacled tern | Onychoprion lunatus (Peale, 1849) | tropical Pacific Ocean | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Bridled tern | Onychoprion anaethetus (Scopoli, 1786) | Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Pacific Ocean, western Indian Ocean, Caribbean and West Africa. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Sooty tern | Onychoprion fuscatus (Linnaeus, 1766) | Red Sea across Indian Ocean to at least central Pacific. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Aleutian tern | Onychoprion aleuticus (Baird, 1869) | Alaska and easternmost Siberia to Australia | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Manutara is the Rapa Nui language name for spectacled and sooty terns. Both arrive at Easter Island and hatch their eggs on the island called Motu Nui, an event that was used for an annual rite called Tangata manu.
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is mews; this still exists in certain regional English dialects and is cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Swedish mås, Dutch meeuw, Norwegian måke/måse, and French mouette.
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also includes several genera of gulls and the skimmers (Rynchops). They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the black-bellied tern, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark body plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap.
Laridae is a family of seabirds in the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns, noddies, and skimmers. It includes around 100 species arranged into 22 genera. They are an adaptable group of mostly aerial birds found worldwide.
The laughing gull is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. The two subspecies are L. a. megalopterus — which can be seen from southeast Canada down to Central America — and L. a. atricilla, which appears from the West Indies to the Venezuelan islands. The laughing gull was long placed in the genus Larus until its present placement in Leucophaeus.
The little tern is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Sterna albifrons. It was moved to the genus Sternula when the genus Sterna was restricted to the larger typical terns. The genus name Sternula is a diminutive of Sterna, 'tern', while the specific name albifrons is from Latin albus, 'white', and frons, 'forehead'.
The Sandwich tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern, Chinese crested tern, Cabot's tern, and elegant tern and has been known to interbreed with both elegant and lesser crested. It breeds in the Palearctic from Europe to the Caspian Sea and winters in South Africa, India, and Sri Lanka.
The roseate tern is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific dougallii refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDougall (1777–1814). "Roseate" refers to the bird's pink breast in breeding plumage.
The gull-billed tern, formerly Sterna nilotica, is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull-billed tern was previously considered a subspecies.
The lesser crested tern is a tern in the family Laridae.
The royal tern is a tern in the family Laridae. The species is endemic to the Americas, though vagrants have been identified in Europe.
The elegant tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It breeds on the Pacific coasts of the southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile.
The bridled tern is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus comes from onux meaning "claw" or "nail", and prion, meaning "saw". The specific anaethetus means "senseless, stupid".
The sooty tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
The greater crested tern, also called crested tern, swift tern, or great crested tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. This large tern is closely related to the royal and lesser crested terns, but can be distinguished by its size and bill colour.
The name marsh tern refers to terns of the genus Chlidonias, which typically breed in freshwater marshes, rather than coastal locations.
The spectacled tern, also known as the grey-backed tern, is a seabird in the family Laridae.
Thalasseus, the crested terns, is a genus of eight species of medium-large to large terns in the family Laridae.
The grey noddy or grey ternlet is a seabird belonging to the family Laridae. It was once regarded as a pale morph of the blue noddy but is now usually considered to be a separate species.
Chroicocephalus is a genus of medium to relatively small gulls which were included in the genus Larus until genetic evidence published in 2005 showed that Larus as then constituted was paraphyletic. Ten species are currently accepted. An eleventh, Saunders's gull, was included until a 2022 study demonstrated that it did not belong in Chroicocephalus; it is now treated in its own genus Saundersilarus. The genus name Chroicocephalus is from Ancient Greek khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head".
Cabot's tern is a species of bird in subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. It is found in the eastern U.S. and Middle America, the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Bolivia and Paraguay.
