Sterna
| Sterna | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg)
Common terns ( Sterna hirundo ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sterna | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
Sterna is a genus of birds in the tern family(Sternidae). According to the conventional system, it comprised a large part of the species of tern. After a systematic reorganization and the separation of numerous representatives into the genera Thalasseus , Hydroprogne , Onychoprion , Gelochelidon and Sternula , it currently only contains 13 species of medium-sized, rather slender terns. Of these, the common tern and the arctic tern occur as breeding birds in Central Europe, and the rose tern in the British Isles .
features
The species of the genus differ greatly in body size. Their physique resembles that of the seagulls , but is much more delicate, slender and elongated. The sexes are almost the same size. The wings are long and pointed, they are characteristically narrow, significantly narrower than the wings of the gulls. The wing beat is remarkably fast and deep. Gliding does not occur, but gliding is rare. The tail has 12 control feathers and is often deeply forked, sometimes the outermost feathers are elongated to spikes. The neck is short.
species
- Hindu tern ( S. aurantia )
- Rose tern ( S. dougallii )
- Tara tern ( S. striata )
- Black-necked tern ( S. sumatrana )
- Falkland tern ( S. hirundinacea )
- Common tern ( S. hirundo )
- Barnacle tern ( S. repressa )
- Arctic tern ( S. paradisaea )
- Antipodean tern ( S. vittata )
- Kerguelean Tern ( S. virgata )
- Forest Tern ( S. forsteri )
- White- crowned tern ( S. trudeaui )
- Austral tern ( S. nereis , Syn . : Sternula nereis )
- Black-bellied tern ( Sterna acuticauda )
literature
- Bauer, H.-G .; Bezzel, E. & Fiedler, W .: The Compendium of Birds in Central Europe - Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds. 2. completely revised Ed., AULA-Verlag Wiebelsheim, 2005. ISBN 3-89104-647-2
- Cramp, Stanley and Simmons, KEL (Eds.): Handbook or the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: the Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. 4: Terns to Woodpeckers. Oxford University Press, 1985 ISBN 0-19-857507-6
Web links
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System Sterna Linnaeus, 1758
Individual evidence
- ↑ IOC World Bird List , accessed on 30 October 2013