Tringa

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Tringa
Common Greenshank & Common Redshank.jpg
Common greenshank (Tringa nebularia) and common redshank (Tringa totanus) at Cuckmere Haven, Sussex, England
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Tringa ochropus (green sandpiper)
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

13, see text

Synonyms
  • CatatrophorusJardine, 1849 (unjustified emendation)
  • CatoptophorusDes Murs, 1854 (unjustified emendation)
  • CatoptrophonusGray, 1871 (unjustified emendation)
  • CatoptrophorusBonaparte, 1827
  • CatorthrophorusBrehm, 1855 (unjustified emendation)
  • CatroptophorusGiebel, 1877 (unjustified emendation)
  • Helodromas
  • HeteroscelusBaird, 1858
  • Pseudototanus
  • RhyacophilusKaup, 1829
  • RhyacophorusBonaparte, 1842 (unjustified emendation)
  • RhyacophylusLillo, 1905 (unjustified emendation)
  • RhynchophilusBonaparte, 1856 (unjustified emendation)
  • RhyncophilusDes Murs, 1854 (unjustified emendation)
  • RhyocophilusBonaparte, 1854 (unjustified emendation)
  • TotanusBechstein, 1803
  • TryngaMöhring, 1758 (suppressed)

Tringa is a genus of waders, containing the shanks and tattlers . The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1599. They are mainly freshwater birds, often with brightly coloured legs as reflected in the English names of six species, as well as the specific names of two of these and the green sandpiper. They are typically associated with northern hemisphere temperate regions for breeding. Some of this group—notably the green sandpiper—nest in trees, using the old nests of other birds, usually thrushes.

Contents

The willet and the tattlers have been found to belong in Tringa; these genus changes were formally adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union in 2006. [1]

The present genus in the old, more limited sense was even further subdivided into Tringa proper and Totanus , either as subgenera or as full genera. The available DNA sequence data suggests however that neither of these is monophyletic and that the latter simply lumps together a number of more or less closely related apomorphic species. Therefore, it seems unwarranted to recognize Totanus even as a subgenus for the time being. [2]

Taxonomy

The genus Tringa was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . [3] The name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. [4] [5] The type species is the green sandpiper (Tringa ochropus). [6]

Species

The genus contains 13 species. [7]

Systematics and evolution

Wandering tattler (Tringa incana), formerly in Heteroscelus WanderingTattler23.jpg
Wandering tattler (Tringa incana), formerly in Heteroscelus
Willet (Tringa semipalmata), formerly in monotypic Catoptrophorus Catoptrophorus-semipalmatus-001.jpg
Willet (Tringa semipalmata), formerly in monotypic Catoptrophorus

The shanks' and tattlers' closest relatives are sandpipers of the genera Actitis and Xenus . Together with these, they are related to the phalaropes, as well as the turnstones and calidrids. [8] The large genus Tringa and the two very small genera which are most closely related form a phylogeny similar to the situation found in many other shorebird lineages such as calidrids, snipes and woodcocks, or gulls.

The same study [8] has indicated that some morphological characters such as details of the furcula and pelvis have evolved convergently and are no indicators of close relationship. Similarly, the leg/foot color wildly varies between close relatives, with the spotted redshank, the greater yellowlegs, and the common greenshank for example being more closely related among each other than to any other species in the group; the ancestral coloration of the legs and feet was fairly certainly drab buffish as in e.g. the green sandpiper. On the other hand, the molecular phylogeny reveals that the general habitus and size as well as the overall plumage pattern are good indicators of an evolutionary relationship in this group.

The Nordmann's greenshank, a rare and endangered species, was not available for molecular analyses. It is fairly aberrant and was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Pseudototanus. It appears closest overall to the semipalmata-flavipes and the stagnatilis-totanus-glareola groups, though it also has some similarities to the greater yellowlegs and common greenshank.

Fossil record [9]

Fossil shanks are known since the Miocene, possibly even since the Eo-/Oligocene some 33-30 million years ago (mya) which would be far earlier than most extant genera of birds. However, it is uncertain whether Tringa edwardsi indeed belongs into the present-day genus or is a distinct, ancestral form. The time of the Tringa- Actitis - Xenus - Phalaropus divergence has been tentatively dated at 22 mya, the beginning of the Miocene; [10] even if the dating is largely conjectural, it suggests that T. edwardsi does indeed not belong into the modern genus. Molecular dating [11] —which is not too reliable, however—indicates that the diversification into the known lineages occurred between 20 and 5 mya. The fossil record contains species formerly separated in Totanus from the Early Miocene onwards. Although these are usually known from very scant remains, the fact that apparently apomorphic Tringa as well as a putative phalarope are known from about 23-22 mya indicates that the shank-phalarope group had already diverged into the modern genera by the start of the Miocene. The biogeography of living and fossil species—notably, the rarity of the latter in well-researched North American sites—seems to suggest that Tringa originated in Eurasia. Time and place neatly coincide with the disappearance of the last vestiges of the Turgai Sea, and this process may well have been a major factor in the separation of the genera in the shank-phalarope clade. Still, scolopacids are very similar osteologically, and many of the early fossils of presumed shanks require revaluation. [9]

"Tringa" hoffmanni is now in Ludiortyx . While its relationships are disputed, it was not a charadriiform.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phalarope</span> Genus of birds

A phalarope is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus Phalaropus of the bird family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandpiper</span> Family of birds

Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as curlews and snipes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of bills enable different species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common redshank</span> Species of bird

The common redshank or simply redshank is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted redshank</span> Species of bird

The spotted redshank is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific erythropus is from Ancient Greek eruthros, "red", and pous, "foot".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common greenshank</span> Species of bird

The common greenshank is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific nebularia is from Latin nebula "mist". Like the Norwegian Skoddefoll, this refers to the greenshank's damp marshy habitat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willet</span> Species of bird

The willet is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa. Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage. It breeds in North America and the West Indies and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater yellowlegs</span> Species of bird

The greater yellowlegs is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser yellowlegs</span> Species of medium-sized shorebird

The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsh sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The marsh sandpiper is a small wader. It is a rather small shank, and breeds in open grassy steppe and taiga wetlands from easternmost Europe to the Russian Far East. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific stagnatilis is from Latin stagnum, "swamp".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The wood sandpiper is a small wader. This Eurasian species is the smallest of the shanks, which are mid-sized long-legged waders of the family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific glareola is from Latin glarea, " gravel".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terek sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The Terek sandpiper is a small migratory Palearctic wader species and is the only member of the genus Xenus. It is named after the Terek River which flows into the west of the Caspian Sea, as it was first observed around this area.

<i>Aquila</i> (bird) Genus of birds

Aquila is the genus of true eagles. The genus name is Latin for "eagle", possibly derived from aquilus, "dark in colour". It is often united with the sea eagles, buteos, and other more heavyset Accipitridae, but more recently they appear to be less distinct from the slenderer accipitrine hawks than previously believed. Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable vertebrate prey.

<i>Actitis</i> Genus of birds

Actitis is a small genus of waders, comprising just two very similar bird species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tattler (bird)</span> Genus of birds

The tattlers are the two very similar bird species in the shorebird genus Tringa. They formerly had their own genus, Heteroscelus. The old genus name means "different leg" in Greek, referring to the leg scales that differentiate the tattlers from their close relatives, the shanks.

<i>Tyto</i> Genus of birds

Tyto is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wandering tattler</span> Species of bird

The wandering tattler, is a medium-sized wading bird. It is similar in appearance to the closely related gray-tailed tattler, T. brevipes. The tattlers are unique among the species of Tringa for having unpatterned, greyish wings and backs, and a scaly breast pattern extending more or less onto the belly in breeding plumage, in which both also have a rather prominent supercilium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordmann's greenshank</span> Species of bird

Nordmann's greenshank or the spotted greenshank, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders.

<i>Totanus</i> Genus of birds

Totanus is a generic name previously applied to various waders or shorebirds, now subsumed within Tringa. Created by Johann Matthäus Bechstein, it derives from the species name for the common redshank, described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Scolopax totanus, from totano, the Italian name for the bird.

References

  1. Pereira & Baker (2005), Banks et al. (2006)
  2. Ballmann (1969), Pereira & Baker (2005)
  3. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 148.
  4. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p.  390. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Aldrovandi, Ulisse (1603). Vlyssis Aldrovandi philosophi ac medici Bononiensis historiam naturalem in gymnasio Bononiensi profitentis, Ornithologiae (in Latin). Vol. 3. Bononiae (Bologna, Italy): Franciscum de Franciscis Senensem. pp. 480–483, Lib. 20 Cap. 54.
  6. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 264.
  7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  8. 1 2 van Tuinen et al. (2004)
  9. 1 2 Mlíkovský (2002)
  10. Paton et al. (2003)
  11. Pereira & Baker (2005)
  12. Apparently at least three species at Stránská skála (Czech Republic, Early Pleistocene) for example: Mlíkovský (2002)

Sources