Laridae

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Laridae
Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in winter plumage

Black-headed gull ( Chroicocephalus ridibundus ) in winter plumage

Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank: Sauropsiden (Sauropsida)
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Plover-like (Charadriiformes)
Family : Laridae
Scientific name
Laridae
Rafinesque , 1815

The Laridae are a family of sea ​​and water birds that are found worldwide. They occur over all oceans and on all continents with the exception of Antarctica and are only absent on land in arid areas with no bodies of water in the vicinity and over the oceans only in regions that are too far away from a larger land mass or islands. The scientific name Laridae was originally only used for the seagulls . Today, the three groups of terns and the scissor beaks are also counted as subfamilies of the Laridae and the gulls form the subfamily Larinae within the Laridae.

features

Gulls are medium to large in size, terns are small to medium in size, and scissor beaks are medium in size. The trunk is usually oval and longer in terns and scissor beaks than in gulls. The head is a little longer than it is high; the neck usually of medium length and thick. The wings are usually long and pointed; the tail is short or long and elongated, rectangular or forked. The legs of the tern and scissor beaks are short, those of the gulls are slightly longer. The feet have short toes and are webbed. The plumage is usually light gray, dark gray or blackish on the back and white on the sides of the body and belly. Both sexes look the same, males are usually slightly larger than females.

Way of life

Most of the species of Laridae live on the coasts of the sea, but there are also species found in the interior of the continents, as well as some species that spend most of the year above and in the open seas. The birds can only colonize dry areas if open waters can be visited daily. Scissors' beaks are found exclusively in the tropics and the terns are most diverse in species. Some seagulls and some terns, e.g. B. the arctic tern and the antipodean tern also occur on the coasts of the Arctic and Antarctic. With the exception of the nocturnal fork-tailed gull ( Creagrus furcatus ), all species of the Laridae are diurnal. Seagulls feed on fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates, small mammals and small birds, eggs and juveniles. Often they also collect dead animals on the beach or from the surface of the water. Terns eat small fish that are preyed by thrusting and scissor beaks prey on small fish and invertebrates that are caught flying close to the surface of the water.

Most species of the Laridae nest in groups or colonial in larger associations. They prefer areas where there are no predators, especially islands. Most species nest on the ground, some also on ledges on rocky cliffs along the coast, on trees or on floating rafts made of plant material. Fairy terns balance their only egg in a fork of branches without building a nest. The species of Laridae are monogamous and both parents take part in the breeding and rearing of the young birds. The young birds hatch after 19 to 40 days and fledge after four to six weeks.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the Laridae based on genetic characteristics according to Baker et al. 2007
 Laridae 


 Terns 





Onychoprion


   

Sterna



   

Thalasseus



   

Chlidonias



   


Gelochelidon


   

Hydroprogne



   

Larosterna




   

Phaetusa


   

Sternula




   
 Seagulls 



Larus


   

Rissa



   

Xema



   

Creagrus


   

Rhodostethia




   

Scissor beaks ( rynchops )




   

Fairy Terns ( Gygis )



   

Noddise Terns ( Anous )



Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The name Laridae was introduced in 1815 by the American scientist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque , but for a long time only applied to seagulls, while terns and scissorsbills ran into families of their own. According to molecular genetic data, the terns in their old composition are not a monophyletic taxon, but are divided into three clades and together with the gulls and scissor beaks form a larger clade. Noddise terns and fairy terns were therefore separated from the terns and the three groups together with the gulls and scissors bills were all placed as subfamilies in an extended family Laridae.

The family of Laridae is divided as follows today:

The Laridae belong to the plover-like (Charadriiformes) and there to the suborder Lari. They are probably the sister group of a clade that includes the alken birds (Alcidae) and the skuas (Stercorariidae).

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, Irby J. Lovette: Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds. Lynx Edicions (2015), ISBN 978-8494189203 . Pages 149–151.
  2. ↑ a b Baker, AJ; Pereira, SL; Paton, TA (2007). Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds. Biology Letters. 3: 205-209. doi: 10.1098 / rsbl.2006.0606
  3. ^ Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel (1815). Analysis de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés. Palermo. Text at Biodiversitylibrary.org
  4. ^ IOC World Bird List: Noddies, gulls, terns, auks
  5. ↑ The Laridae in the Tree of Life